Is it possible for famous people to be diagnosed with borderline personality disorder (BPD)?
Borderline personality disorder is a psychological disorder that affects a person’s emotions and identity. It affects the way a person engages with the wider world. This leads to problematic relationships and high-risk behaviors. In this article, I have examined and reviewed the symptoms of borderline personality disorder with famous people who are known to struggle with mental health issues.
Before I talk about potential famous people with BPD, what are these behavioral traits?
Behavioral traits of borderline personality disorder
Emotions: People with BPD experience intense emotions. They feel intense happiness or sadness, love or hate. There is no common ground.
Relationships: These intense feelings lead to strong feelings for partners. Patients with borderline personality disorder become obsessive and fanatical.
Black and white thinking: the person with BPD sees things in black and white; Either one/one thing is good or the whole thing is bad. There is no gray area.
Perfection or Dichotomy: This black-and-white thinking affects relationships. Those with BPD idolize their partner, or because they fear abandonment, begin to dislike them or devalue them.
Fear of Abandonment: Intense anxiety bordering on abandonment phobia, resulting in clingy, manipulative, and desperate behavior.
Distorted self-image: An unstable sense of self that fluctuates between extreme viewpoints, such as crushing shame or overconfidence.
High-Risk Behaviors: Symptoms of BPD include engaging in impulsive and risky behaviors such as promiscuity, binge drinking, gambling, money-spending, reckless driving, and extreme sports.
I cannot be sure that the following famous people have BPD, however, I can identify certain behavioral traits that point to a diagnosis of this disorder. These are my suggestions:
12 Celebrities with borderline personality disorder
- Philip K. Dick – reckless behavior / intense emotions
“I was invaded by a rational, transcendent mind as if I had been crazy all my life and suddenly sane.”
I think Philip K. Dick is one of the greatest science fiction writers of all time. Its themes revolve around the altered sense of consciousness. What is our perception and how does this relate to the outside world? Dick has struggled with mental illness, substance abuse, and psychosis his entire life.
He was married five times and many of his relationships ended in a split. He had one wife committed to a psychiatric facility, and he deliberately drove his car off the road with a girlfriend in the passenger seat. His extreme reactions within his relationships make me think he could have BPD.
- Jeffrey Dahmer- Fear of Abandonment/Impulsive Behavior
American serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer had an unconventional childhood. His parents left him to fend for himself at an early age after his parents left the family home. This left Jeffrey with a deep fear of abandonment. He lived in an apartment in Milwaukee where he invited boys and men back to drink. Jeffrey had abused alcohol from an early age.
However, it was just when the boys wanted to leave that Jeffrey drugged and killed them. His goal was to create a “zombie-like” human who would never let go.
Jeffrey tried to drill holes in his victims’ skulls and inject bleach into their brains but they ended up killing them. Keep several skulls and bones arranged on a makeshift altar. Jeffrey crammed his apartment with barrels of decomposing flesh. He admitted that he ate parts of his victims and slept with their corpses.
- H.P. Lovecraft – a distorted self-image
Science horror writer H.P. Lovecraft has suffered a slew of family deaths from which he never recovered. Lovecraft’s father died when he was a young child and lived with his mother and several aunts and grandparents. His grandmother dies, sending Lovecraft into a depression that has deteriorated over the years.
His grandfather died suddenly after suffering a devastating business failure. The Lovecraft family’s life changed instantly from one of warmth and wealth to poverty and loneliness. Lovecraft began writing but was so sensitive to criticism of his work that he would immediately withdraw it. His aunt described his mental state at the time as follows:
“…so hideous that he hid himself from everyone and did not like to walk in the streets where people could stare at him.”
- Jodi Arias – Intense Emotions
Jodi Arias came to the attention of the world’s media after a court found her guilty of murdering her ex-boyfriend Travis Alexander. Jodi was obsessed with Travis and idealized him and their relationship. She may have seen herself climbing the social ladder by dating Travis, but it became clear during the trial that he wasn’t interested in a serious relationship.
Feeling rejected, Jody stabbed him 27 times and shot him in the head. At first, Jodi blamed his death on intruders but later says she acted in self-defense because she was a victim of domestic violence. A jury found her guilty of first-degree murder and sentenced her to life in prison without parole.
- Diana, Princess of Wales – Exemplary Partner
If you are old enough to remember the wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana, you will be swept away by the fairy tale. But the truth of this relationship is that the end was tragic. You could call Diana young and naive, and in all fairness, she was.
Only 19 years old when she met Charles, she had already experienced the breakdown of her parent’s marriage and now faced relentless media hounding.
Her eating disorders were widely documented by the press, but I believe her idealization of Prince Charles caused her mental state to deteriorate. She bought the fairy tale just as we did and it’s #5 on our celebrity borderline personality disorder countdown.
- Edgar Allan Poe – Risky Behaviors
I am constitutionally sensitive – extraordinarily nervous. I became insane, with long periods of terrible sanity.”
Gothic mystery writer Edgar Allan Poe exhibits several symptoms of BPD. He had an on-and-off relationship with his adoptive father. His adoptive father was a wealthy man and supported Poe’s college education.
However, Poe indulged in risky behaviors, such as gambling, and ran into debt, which meant he could not pay the rent for his home or buy books. Bo eventually drops out of college deeply in debt but will not return home because his childhood sweetheart has married another man.
- Michelangelo – black and white thinking
It is a testament to Michelangelo’s talent that the Pope commissioned him to paint the vaulted ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. This structure is of great importance within the Catholic Church, so it was a great honor for the Italian painter.
He is considered by many to be the greatest sculptor in the world. He used an entire block of marble to create his figures, but they were so lifelike that they looked like they came out of stone.
However, Michelangelo suffered from depression and anxiety throughout his life. Despite his exceptional work, he saw painting as a lesser medium than sculpture. Michelangelo was a sad figure, with few friends, who was arguing with his patrons. He often fell out with his commissioners, which I think is due to his tendency to black-and-white thinking.
“I lead a miserable life, reckoning neither life nor honor—this is of this world;
- Ernest Hemingway – Risky Behaviors / Suicidal Tendencies
Ernest Hemingway’s mental health is well documented. He was an alcoholic, severely depressed, and prone to suicidal thoughts. However, I want to focus on his risky behavior, which to me indicates borderline personality disorder. Hemingway had an eye defect that disqualified him from military service, but somehow, he entered World War I as an ambulance driver.
He also flew several RAF fighter missions in World War II and made several trips to Spain as a war correspondent. After the war, he hunted big game, watched bullfighting in Spain, and brought out his fishing boat. Married four times, Hemingway committed suicide by shooting himself in 1961.
- Franz Kafka – Distorted self-image/suicidal thoughts
“What do I have in common with the Jews? I have nothing in common with myself and must stand very quietly in the corner, content that I can breathe.”
Has anyone noticed a thread yet? It’s not entirely surprising to see another author radicalizing the human experience in our countdown of famous people with BPD. Despite his unique approach to life, Kafka was self-conscious about his looks, his sexual prowess, and more.
Kafka thought it repelled women. He has low self-confidence and critics describe him as having “parasite dependency needs”. It is reported that he was suffering from eating disorders, depression, and suicidal thoughts.
- Vincent van Gogh – impulsive actions, wild mood swings
You don’t have to be an art lover to know a Van Gogh painting when you see one. Van Gogh’s sweeping brushstrokes and radical use of color are his signatures. Like many creative geniuses, his personal life was filled with bouts of depression, mood swings, and impulsive actions (he supposedly cut off his ear after an argument).
Van Gogh suffered from psychotic thoughts and behavior that led him to spend months after months in asylums at his request as he shifted from serenity to utter despair. Van Gogh was plagued by loneliness and feelings of inadequacy. He shot himself in a suicide attempt but did not die instantly as he had hoped. He passed away a few days later from his injuries. After he shot himself, he said:
“I shot myself… I just hope I don’t mess it up.”
- Aileen Wuornos – Risky Behavior
Aileen Wuornos is one of those rare breeds. A serial killer. Eileen engaged in risky behavior to trap and trap her victims. She worked as a sex worker, urging men to engage in sexual activity before shooting them. Aileen’s childhood was chaotic. Her parents abandoned her at a young age and she lived with her grandparents.
By the time she entered the school, she was already selling her body for food, drugs, and cigarettes. Eileen was raped by her grandfather and his friend, and she became pregnant at the age of fourteen. The authorities took her son and put him up for adoption.
Aileen’s grandfather kicks her out of the house after his wife’s death. She was 15 years old and started living on the streets, selling her body to support herself. She was eventually caught by the police and sentenced to death by a jury.
- Susan Lee Smith – Fear of Abandonment
My final entry on the list of celebrities with BPD is Susan Lee Smith. Suzanne gained notoriety in the American media as the mother who drowned her two sons in 1994. Suzanne alleged that a black man had kidnapped them in a carjacking. However, the defense team argued that Susan’s poor mental health was taken into account.
Suzanne had previously attempted suicide on two occasions, the last attempt being when her married lover ended their relationship. She was married at the time of the crime but was desperate to start a relationship with a wealthy local man. However, he has stated his lack of interest in the children and his disapproval of her advances.
Prosecutors believe this is why she killed them. Mental health experts diagnosed Suzanne with Dependent Personality Disorder, but I believe her fear of abandonment led her to take such a tragic action.
