Comedy is a kind of art that is really close to people, because everybody loves comedy. The comedians’ ability to create laughter, made the people falsely think that these comedians have a happy and lovely life. However, in reality statistics shows that many comedians throughout the history have suffered from depression. Despite their sadness and depression, comedians do many efforts to spread happiness. It is said that the comedians find consolation in the people’s joy and laughter. In this article you will be introduced to 14 comedians you did not know suffer from depression. Some of them surrendered to their conditions and ended their lives, others tried to end their life and failed and others refused to surrender and successfully overcame their depression.
The first category is those who were in deep depression and chose to end their pain by killing themselves.
1 Robins Williams
The most famous and recent comedian that suffered from depression is the legendary comedian Robins Williams. Everybody knows that in August 11, 2014, Williams committed suicide after a long fight with depression and addiction. Robins who spend many years in the field of comedy, whether by doing stand-up comedy or comic films, was in personal life holding lots of pain and sadness that he couldn’t beat and decided to end his life after this long suffering.
2 Freddie Prinze
Williams was not the only comedian who decided to end his life, Freddie Prinze also suffered from depression and shot himself with a gun in 1977.
3 Richard Jeni
The stand-up comedian and the actor Richard Jeni is another victim of depression. He had a deep depression to the extent that he killed himself in his house in Hollywood.
4 Tony Hancock
Tony Hancock is an English comedian who was popular in the 50s and the 60. Despite his fame and success, he committed suicide by overdose in 1968.
5 Ray Combs
The American comedian Ray Combs, ended his life by hanging himself. It was said that he did that because he was in debts and because of the failure of his last two shows.
The second category is those who attempted to suicide but failed.
6 Drew Carey
The well-known American comedian Drew Carey is another victim of depression. Carey tried to end his life twice but he failed.
7 Stephen Fry
The British comedian actor Stephen Fry also suffered from depression, and he had tried twice to kill himself but actually failed.
8 Drew Barrymore
The beautiful comedian actress Drew Barrymore, have also tried to kill herself when she was only 14 because of her addiction to drugs.
9 Owen Wilson
Another comedian actor who had attempted to end his life was Owen Wilson, yet, the real reasons behind his attempt were never revealed.
The last category is those who suffered from depression but could overcome it.
10 Jim Carrey
The funny comedian Jim Carrey is on the top of this category. He confessed that he had suffered from depression for a while throughout his career but he could eventually overcome his disease.
11 Ellen Degeneres
Ellen Degeneres is a name that remind us with joy and happiness, yet Degeneres had a depression that lasted for almost 3 years back in 1977 after the public knew that she is lesbian. But Ellen bravely managed to fight her depression and now the TV show that she hosts is widely successful.
12 Bill Hicks
The stand-up comedian Bill Hicks was addicted to drugs and alcohol and his friends said that this was the main reason of his depression. However, Hicks died in 1994 not from depression but from cancer.
13 Sarah Silverman
Sarah Silverman, who is one of the most popular comedians nowadays, admitted that she was depressed through her high school period. When she was talking about her depression she stated “It happened as fast as a cloud covering the sun. It was at once devastatingly real and terrifyingly intangible. I felt helpless, but not in the familiar bedwetting sense. As quickly and casually as someone catches the flu, I caught depression, and it would last for the next three years.”
Finally, everyone must know that depression is not a simple disease. Depression is a real dilemma that need a serious solutions. That is because depression kill the life inside of the depressed person. It makes him feel that there is nothing in this world worth living for and that is the main reason behind every suicide. So, it is better for anyone who know someone who looks depressed to take it serious and try to help him.