10 Famous People With ADHD Who Are Unstoppable In Their Career

Inasmuch as attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is one of those conditions that is easily associated with children, there are many adults that also have the condition. Much more than that, there are famous people with ADHD who do not only dominate their fields but also seem unstoppable.

According to the , the prevalence of the mental health condition among adults is 4.4%. More so, for adults who have not been diagnosed with the disorder in childhood, there is the likelihood that they may remain undiagnosed.

As the name suggests, the major symptoms of this disorder include difficulty in paying attention and staying focused as well as finding it difficult to control one’s mood or behavior and also bouts of energy. Because of these symptoms, it is easy to assume that one may not be able to achieve one’s full potentials if one has the disorder. However, there are many celebrities who have the condition and still have attained the best spots in their careers.

Here Are Some Famous People With ADHD

1. Michael Phelps

Michael Phelps is not just one of the greatest swimmers ever he is also the most decorated Olympian with as much as 28 gold medals to his name. That said, he has also had his challenges while growing up as a result of ADHD which has remained even into his adulthood.

Phelps was diagnosed to be having ADHD since the age of 9, something that made it extremely hard for him to cope with his education. As a result of this, he revealed that he was told by a teacher that he wasn’t going to amount to anything or even be successful.

The retired swimmer was able to channel his strength into swimming in the opposite direction of what his teacher said.

2. Simone Biles

Even before she was 20, had already won 4 Olympic gold medals and 1 bronze, 14 World Championships, and Pacific Rim Championships. However, her life had never been a rosy one with a father who abandoned the family and struggled with drug addiction and a mother who was also addicted to drugs and alcohol, making her incapable of taking care of her three kids. As a result of this, she was adopted and brought up by her maternal grandparents since the age of 6.

Beyond just that, it was leaked by Russian hackers who accessed the records of World Anti-Doping Agency that she tested positive for Ritalin which is an ADHD medication. The gymnast revealed that she is not ashamed to let people know that she has ADHD or that she is taking medication for it. Following the incident, USA Gymnastics released a statement noting that there was no violation as she had permission to take the medication.

3. Adam Levine

Adam Levine may be one of your favorite singers, but is also one of the famous people with ADHD who are simply unstoppable. Like most others, he was discovered to have the disorder since the age of 5 and he continued to struggle with it even as an adult.

The frontman revealed that as a child, it was very hard for him to get his schoolwork done or to concentrate because of the condition. As an adult, the issue of staying focused and complete tasks is still there for him that he may sometimes have plenty of ideas but will still not be able to document them. There were times when even writing songs or recording them could seem a big challenge for him.

4. Justin Timberlake

There is also Not a Bad Thing singer and actor, as yet one of the famous people with ADHD. For the Grammy-winning singer, he has struggled with ADHD mixed with OCD (Obsessive Compulsive Disorder) which is a psychiatric disorder that has obsessive thoughts and compulsions or rituals as some of the symptoms.

Justin Timberlake revealed that while it can be very complicated, one has to find a way of living with it. The Friends with Benefits star has, however, not said much about how that has affected his career.

5. Karina Smirnoff

Karina Smirnoff is a United States national professional ballroom dance champion, a World Trophy Champion, as well as Asian Open Champion. In addition to that, she has also won the Dutch Open and US National Professional Championships multiple times before going on to become the first woman to get to the British Professional Final for as much as three times with three different partners.

With a long list of achievements to show, Karina Smirnoff is also one of the famous people with ADHD. The dancer has been able to channel most of the energy from the disorder into dancing and somehow, it happens to pay off.

6. Ty Pennington

Ty Pennington has done everything from modeling to acting, writing, TV hosting, artworks, carpentry, and many other things. How much he has been able to accomplish always comes as a big surprise when you get to know that the famous TV host suffers from ADHD.

While he was growing up, Pennington was so hyperactive that he could distract the entire classroom. When his mother who was studying to be a child psychologist went to his school to test the worst kid in the school, she was presented with her son whom she observed through the window. He had stripped naked and was distracting everyone.

To calm himself, he has continued to take small doses of antihistamines which were given to him since he was a kid to make him drowsy.

It gets interesting to realize that it is because of the disorder that he has decided to put his energy into his many hobbies which have all paid off.

7. Solange Knowles

Singer and actress, also battles ADHD. When she was first diagnosed with the disorder, Knowles did not believe the doctor as she felt it was just another thing invented for people to be paying money for medicines. And so, she went to another who made a similar diagnosis.

More than the diagnosis of the doctors, she also realized that she had so much energy even when she was sober and it was hard for her to concentrate on many things or finish what she began. Not long past, she revealed that she can now see the symptoms in many people in the music industry with people suffering the loss of memory and starting something without finishing.

8. Paris Hilton

In an interview with in 2007, revealed that she had been on medication since she was a child as a result of attention deficit disorder (ADD). She stated that just like everyone else, she has always had it very hard to pay attention to things. She was diagnosed with the disorder since she was 12 years old.

When she was jailed, the feeling of being entrapped made things worse for her but she soon adjusted. Career-wise, the disorder did not affect her music, acting, writing, business, or the many other things that she is involved in.

9. Jim Carrey

is not the actor who would fail to deliver in any role that you give him. The Canadian actor, comedian, director, and painter is very popular for his very energetic roles in movies.

That said, the actor has battled with depression and ADHD which he has had since he was in school. The Mask actor was known for disrupting classes. He has been on treatment for the disorder since he was a child and has used his acting and comedy to let go of some of the energy.

10. Howie Mandel

has achieved so much as an actor, comedian, TV host and more. The longest judge or host on America’s Got Talent, he also hosts Deal or No Deal. Looking at all his achievements, Howie is completely unstoppable. That said, it has not been a very rosy ride for him considering that he battles both ADHD and OCD.

The first time he revealed that he had OCD was on a talk show and it was impulsively, something that left him devastated afterward.

A strong mental health advocate, Mandel has had the issue since he was a child even though at the time, there was no name for the condition. As a result of this, it was until he was an adult that he was diagnosed with the issue which he has had for all his life.

As a result of the obsessive-compulsive disorder that he suffers, he does not shake people or like coming in contact with people for the fear of germs. More so, he finds it very hard to sit still or even listening for a long period of time. One of the hardest things for him is to read scripts or write.

The support of his parents when he was a kid and that of his wife are among the things that have kept him going as well as the medications that he has always taken. His wife and kids have all had to go for therapy as a result of his disorders.

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