14 DAY TRIAL // Actress Catherine Zeta Jones recently spent a short time in a mental facility, where she sought professional treatment for bipolar disorder II. She’s now ready to speak out about it, in the hope that other sufferers will be motivated to seek help as well.
The strain of the past year eventually proved too much for Catherine, as she cracked and was left with no other choice than to take some time off and just see to her health, as we also reported a short while ago.
Dealing with husband Michael Douglas’ cancer diagnosis and subsequent recovery, working and protecting the family against negative reports making the rounds in the media eventually took their toll on the actress.
She’s better now, she says for People magazine. With this interview, she wants to draw attention to the fact that there’s “no shame” in admitting to the existence of a problem and certainly not in seeking help for it.
“This is a disorder that affects millions of people and I am one of them,” Zeta Jones says in a statement for the magazine.
“If my revelation of having bipolar II has encouraged one person to seek help, then it is worth it. There is no need to suffer silently and there is no shame in seeking help,” she adds.
A friend of the actress reveals that Catherine has been going through difficult times ever since she found out about Michael’s cancer, but she kept the issue out of the press for his sake.
Since he’s now recovered and she’s supposed to return to work soon, she realized she needed to do something to get her life back on track again, wherefrom the decision to seek treatment.
“The simple things would just seem overwhelming, like going out to dinner. There was just a little piece of her chipped away. It was hard to watch because I knew how hard she was trying,” says the friend.
The latest People print issue will also include a lengthy interview with the actress – so keep an eye out for it.