Diseases of celebrities of history. Nikolai Larinsky: the history of medicine adorns my life Extracts from the case histories of famous historical figures
They say that great people are sick and inferior people. Mol. they were so worried about their physical and mental shortcomings that they compensated for their inferiority with brilliant creativity, inventions, or some unusual, but active actions in relation to other people. Well, there is some grain of truth in this statement. Indeed, the list of geniuses with, for example, mental disorders is huge. Newton. Nietzsche. Kant, Darwin and Plato suffered from schizophrenia. Byron's. Goncharova. Gogol and many other greats had hallucinations.
Alexander the Great, Julius Caesar and Napoleon suffered from epilepsy. Ivan the Terrible, Michelangelo and George Said were the most natural psychopaths.
I don’t know what Jack the Ripper and Chikatilo were sick with - people who are not a rhyme great, but no less famous for this - I don’t know, but there is no doubt that they were obviously crazy people.
Suspicious. bitter and vindictive Hitler was a coward and paranoid. Did legends spread about the Fuhrer's magical gaze and inexhaustible energy, about how he could hypnotize crowds of Germans? The famous psychologist Jacques Lacan believed that Hitler experienced a panicky horror in front of the crowd, and that is why he purposefully tried to subdue it to himself, which he succeeded in doing.
Lacan also explains Hitler's desire to establish a clear hierarchy already within the Nazi organization itself with the same fear in order to contact only the highest military leadership.
The number of drunkards and suicides among the creative elite is incalculable: Socrates, Seneca, Handel, Edgar Allan Poe. Mayakovsky, Yesenin - just a few examples.
Many geniuses could not create in the usual state and resorted to the so-called artificial stimulation.
Schiller kept feet in cold water; Proust sniffed strong perfumes; Rousseau stood for hours in the sun with his head uncovered; Balzac could not do without horse doses of coffee;
Pushkin"Written", only lying on the couch. Famous musicians of the 20th century John Lennon, Jim Morrisson and Jimi Hendrix were drug addicts. The mental anguish of the great people was aggravated by illness or physical infirmity.
Rummaging through your memory, you yourself will remember that one of the greats was deaf, like a black grouse, the other was one-legged, the third was “as tall as a sitting dog”, the fourth was a long tower and crooked in one eye.
Red-nosed drunkard and glutton Mussorgsky, one-eared Van Gogh, who "chopped off" his ear in a fit of clouding his mind.
The composer Smetana had a congenital hearing impairment, the future orator Demosthenes practically could not speak, and the artist Gauguin, according to some researchers, suffered from color blindness.
Stilichoi and Torstensoi - two commanders who amazed contemporaries with the lightning speed of the advance of their troops, were paralyzed !!!. Lame Vladimir the Red Sun, suffering from bouts of hysterical blindness, baptized Rus'.
Composer Beethoven, deafened by the middle of his life, wrote brilliant symphonies.
Painter Toulue-Lotrsk. without getting up from a wheelchair, he loved fallen women and. using them as models, he painted magnificent pictures.
The great ones are people too. They, too, are caught off guard by all sorts of diseases.
French philosopher Voltaire, for example, suffered from stomach ulcers. For this reason, he ate little and was incredibly thin. But illness often rescued him. When annoying visitors appeared (and this happened often), the thinker was declared sick. He immediately went to bed and sent servants to the guests with the sad news: "Voltaire, perhaps at death." Fortunately, these tricks did not affect the health of the famous Frenchman: he lived for 84 years.
Empress Catherine in her youth, she was very worried because she had a pimply face, and was very ashamed of her shortcoming. None of the remedies helped until her life doctor advised her to use talcum powder. The effect was amazing: after a few weeks, acne was gone.
Sometimes the very genius is attributed to the disease. Suffice it to recall Mozart or Beethoven: their crazy antics, mood swings were attributed to mental deviations from the norm. Beethoven also had smallpox as a child and was deaf all his life.
At Napoleon there was such a pathology as slow blood circulation, so he could not do a day without a hot bath. It is noteworthy that even during the battles (what is there - in exile on the island of St. Helena, where there was a problem with the supply of fresh water) he
always followed his rule. The governor of St. Helena, Goodson Low, who is usually credited with exceptional hatred of the captive usurper, once joked: "I could not imagine that he would take it into his head to boil himself for hours."
Despite the fact that by the age of 30 Napoleon began to get fat and put on weight over time, he did not differ in excessive appetite. On the contrary, he believed that abundant food, like alcohol, is unhealthy.
Death by impact
Peter III, husband of Catherine II, officially died of "hemorrhoidal colic". But all of Russia knew that death came from a blow to the temple with a snuffbox, inflicted by Alexei Orlov. Paul I, as it was announced, had apoplexy. In fact, the emperor was strangled. But Joseph Stalin actually died of a cerebral hemorrhage. Rather, from the failure to provide medical care. The leader was dying for almost 3 hours, and none of those close to him either decided or did not want to approach him. Almost the same thing happened to Catherine II: a blow grabbed her in the dressing room, when the courtiers got worried and broke the door, it was too late.
Boris Godunov also died of acute cerebrovascular accident, although some historians insist on poisoning. The tsar died painfully at the wrong time - the troops of False Dmitry I approached Moscow.
Leonid Brezhnev died of cerebral atherosclerosis. Lenin suffered from atherosclerosis of the carotid arteries and died of a stroke.
In addition to the head, another weak point of the Russian and Soviet leaders was the heart. Nikita Khrushchev died of cardiac arrest after the fifth heart attack. 77 years before that, Emperor Alexander III, a physically very strong man, died quickly and suddenly. The autopsy showed "cardiac paralysis due to the degeneration of the muscles of the hypertrophied heart: and nephritis (granular atrophy) of the kidneys."
Royal kidneys
Back in the 19th century, gout, that is, the deposition of uric acid crystals in various organs of the body, was considered a "noble" disease. Empress Anna Ioannovna, who died in 1740 from kidney stones, complained of gout.
Yuri Andropov, who had a 100% proletarian origin, also suffered from gout and died from intoxication. From a similar disease, uremia, died and Peter I. In addition to kidney disease, he suffered from asthma, epilepsy and alcoholism. In terms of the number of diseases incompatible with life, the reformer tsar could compete with, perhaps, one Konstantin Chernenko: sclerotic changes in the lungs, emphysema, heart weakness: However, the penultimate general secretary did not indulge in excesses.
Grand Duke of Moscow Vasily II the Dark was unsuccessfully treated for "dry disease", now called amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. But he died, most likely, from a general blood poisoning: he developed furunculosis, and Vasily ordered to cauterize acne with smoldering tinder.
Vasily III, the Grand Duke of Moscow from 1505 to 1533, died of inflammation of a subcutaneous abscess that opened while hunting. Inflammation, according to the chronicler, was accompanied by a "strong stench". Perhaps it was cancer in the last stage, but in the 16th century such diagnoses were not made. Similarly, contemporaries described the symptoms of the disease Ivan the Terrible- "internal putrefaction" with a terrible smell, blisters and ulcers covering the body. After death, the swollen corpse did not fit into the coffin. Most historians believe that Grozny died of dropsy in the abdomen (ascites).
Various mental illnesses were very often attributed to Russian tsars and general secretaries. Stalin allegedly had paranoia, Grozny had persecution mania, Paul I also called crazy. The reputation of a mentally handicapped person was firmly entrenched in the son of Ivan the Terrible, Fyodor Ivanovich, the last king of the Rurik dynasty. Foreigners wrote that subjects call their ruler the Russian word "DURAK". At the same time, Fedor quite happily reigned for almost 14 years and was loved by the people.
In general, the rulers of Russia suffered from the same ailments as their people. Emperor of all Russia Peter II died of smallpox. Alexander I died of typhus. What the rulers of Russia did not die from was suicide. Only the death of the emperor is in question Nicholas I. According to the official version, he caught a cold while riding a horse and caught pneumonia, from which he died. Now the majority
historians are inclined to the version that Nikolai Pavlovich deliberately refused treatment. This is how the emperor was affected by the defeat in
Crimean War.
History celebrity illnesses
All people acquire diseases by adulthood, and those who did not acquire diseases were poorly diagnosed. Historical figures, including famous artists, scientists and rulers, were also sick. The Historic Clinical and Pathological Conference is held annually in the United States, where professionals discuss and publish their findings. There are a great many ways to diagnose a particular disease in a person who died hundreds of years ago. We present to your attention a selection of several famous people in history and their illness.
Leonardo da Vinci
There are no reliably known portraits of da Vinci, but scientists and historians attribute some of the great many to the artist and inventor. Christopher Tyler, a British ophthalmologist, examined two oil paintings, two portraits and two sculptures for which Leonardo might well have posed. In all six cases, the person depicted had a slight squint - an average of 10.3 degrees when relaxed - which "corrected" when the artist focused on something. This, by the way, may explain the sense of depth of space that is inherent in the works of da Vinci, because, according to many scientists, strabismus is associated with good stereoscopic vision. Da Vinci himself considered the ability to determine the position of an object in three-dimensional space one of the most important abilities of a good artist.
Charles Darwin
The founder of the modern theory of evolution ("Darwinism") suffered a lot in his life. In his youth, he was noted for good health, except for indigestion in his teenage years. During his famous travels around the world, during which he collected prototypes on almost all continents of the Earth, the famous scientist constantly suffered from seasickness, poisoned himself twice, suffered a fever several times and once fell victim to heat stroke.
After returning from his trip, Darwin suffered a brief episode of heart palpitations, and a year and a half later, he began to have regular pain in the abdomen, which began three hours after eating or under great stress. Doctors of that time gave him many diagnoses, here are just a few of them: hypochondria, excess stomach acid, gout, allergies, a complication of Chilean fever, Chagas disease, neurasthenia, refractory anomaly of the eyes, mental fatigue, schizophrenia, depressive psychoses, chronic appendicitis, ulcers, chronic cholecystitis, hepatitis, diaphragmatic hernia, narcolepsy, lead poisoning, lactose intolerance, Crohn's disease, panic disorder with agoraphobia, repressed anger towards the father, lupus and other diseases.
In 2011, modern scientists suggested that the cause of Darwin's ailments could be the bacterium Helicobacter pylori - the same one that is now customary to do a test during FGDS. She could cause and aggravate the ulcer, which made Darwin feel pain after eating and under stress. Another diagnosis is Chagas disease, which a scientist could have contracted in Argentina from a bug bite. The symptoms of this disease are few - fever, swollen lymph nodes, after which a chronic period begins, gradually leading to an increase in the ventricles of the heart and, possibly, heart failure (the scientist died from problems with the cardiovascular system).
The latest diagnosis is the syndrome of periodic vomiting, which modern scientists have not yet been able to explain.
Francisco Goya
The famous portrait painter was in good health throughout most of his life. In addition to minor injuries and a short, unspecified disorder at the age of 32, the artist did not suffer from anything else. At the age of 46 (1792), Goya became seriously ill, the doctors diagnosed him with colic, which disappeared after a couple of weeks. However, in February 1793, the malaise returned and began to threaten Francisco's life - having hardly endured the disease, the artist lost his hearing for the rest of his life.
Initially, it was assumed that Goya suffered a series of strokes, there were brain injuries, severe inflammation of the inner ear, or lead poisoning, but in 2017, scientists from the University of Maryland at the Historical Clinical and Diagnostic Conference refuted these diagnoses and named new ones - syphilis or one of the autoimmune diseases (syndrome Susak or Kogan's syndrome).
Susak syndrome is a very rare disease in which the immune system attacks the neurons responsible for hearing in the brain, causing vision and hearing to gradually decrease. With Cogan's Syndrome, the inner ear and vision are affected, and syphilis, in rare cases, can also lead to hearing loss. Live Goya in the XXI century, his hearing could be restored with a cochlear implant.
The heroine of "Christina's World"
The girl in the famous painting by American artist Andrew Wyeth was his neighbor and suffered from an unknown disease since childhood. As a teenager, she often stumbled and fell - lack of coordination affected - and by the age of twenty-six she could no longer walk more than five steps and had poor control over her own fingers. By the age of fifty, she could no longer stand and lost sensation in her feet and hands.
One of the versions is poliomyelitis - from which preventive vaccinations are made today. Mark Patterson, professor of neurology, pediatrics and medical genetics at the Mayo Clinic, having studied medical records and eyewitness accounts, concluded that the girl in the picture suffered from hereditary motor-sensory neuropathy, or Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease. With this disease, peripheral nerves atrophy, which explains the gradual loss of the ability to walk and the loss of sensation in the limbs. By the way, the woman lived not so little - at the time of her death she was 74 years old.
History is sometimes embarrassing. Disgusting. Especially when it comes to illness. Everyone has heard about the "nasty things" that lay in wait for our ancestors in the past. However, not everyone knows that many historical figures suffered from these "nasty things". Strange and incomprehensible ailments, terrible and frightening ailments, frankly disgusting ailments ... In ancient times, the life of celebrities was replete with difficulties and ... However, judge for yourself.
Edgar Allan Poe died of rabies
The day of the funeral was damp and cold, so the ceremony ended in three minutes.Edgar Allan Poe died in 1849, and his death remained an unfathomable mystery for a long time. He left his home in Richmond, Virginia and disappeared. The writer was found a week later in a gutter in Baltimore: he was in clothes from someone else's shoulder and in a confused mind. For the next four days, Po was tormented by the strongest hallucinations, then he fell into madness and died. His death (and the circumstances surrounding it) were considered a complete mystery.
What killed Edgar Allan Poe? It is still unknown exactly. To answer this question, genetic expertise is needed. However, in 1996, a remarkable incident occurred. Dr. R. Michael Benitez attended a medical conference where practitioners were given a list of anonymous patients' symptoms and asked to make a diagnosis. The unsuspecting Benitez got Poe. The doctor skimmed through his "anonymous patient's folder" and declared his illness "a clear case of rabies."
In the 19th century, rabies was quite common. It is quite possible that the writer was really bitten by a rabid animal, he did not have time to tell anyone about it and collapsed from a terrible illness. Of course, this version cannot be called irrefutable. For example, Po showed no signs of rabies, a common symptom of rabies. Nevertheless, such an assumption is closest to unraveling the mysterious death of the famous writer and poet.
Beethoven was born with syphilis
The deaf composer conducted conversations with friends in writing, using "conversational notebooks" An incredible, amazing fact - the legendary composer Beethoven, the author of perhaps the best music in the history of mankind, was deaf. From the mid-1790s, he was tormented by constant ringing in his ears. By his thirtieth birthday, Beethoven had practically lost his hearing. Many of his greatest works were written after.
Talking about this, they often do not mention one juicy moment. A few years ago, at the University of Maryland's annual Clinical Pathology Historical Conference, participants decided to speculate about what might have caused Beethoven's deafness. A lot of time has passed since then, so it's hard to say with 100% certainty. However, one answer was still offered at the conference - syphilis.
Deafness can be a symptom of syphilis, and in Beethoven's time this ailment was quite common. The composer's father was supposedly ill with it, which explains how Beethoven himself became infected. Syphilis, like HIV, can be transmitted in utero from mother to baby. If Beethoven's father infected his mother, this led to the illness of the great composer and, in the end, destroyed his hearing.
Tutankhamun looked like a half-wit and a "victim of incest"
He did not live past the age of twenty, the exact cause of death is unknown. Among the versions - illness, murder and complication after falling from the chariot Today everyone knows that incest is bad. Not only is somersaulting in bed with your sister obscene, but the result can also be a child with terrible physical and psychological problems. But in ancient Egypt they did not know about it. The rulers believed that family marriages kept the purity of the dynasty. As a result, pharaohs were born with the appearance of idiots, "victims of incest." One of them was the legendary Tutankhamun. He came from a dynasty with a long history of incestuous marriages, and by God, he showed it.
According to the Wall Street Journal, Tutankhamun had protruding incisors and an abnormal (deep) bite, a cleft palate, a curvature of the spine (scoliosis), a deformed foot, and an extremely elongated head (dolichocephaly); as well as female mammary glands and hips (several male ancestors of Tutankhamen differed in the same structure). In addition, he almost certainly had undetected defects in vital internal organs.
In short, this ancient Egyptian ruler did not look like a great and powerful ruler at all. He was more like an extra in the remake of the thriller Deliverance.
Samuel Johnson may have had Tourette's syndrome
Johnson compiled the first explanatory dictionary of the English language, which glorified the author and has not lost its value to this day. Samuel Johnson was the smartest writer of his time. Rough, vulgar and uncouth, he hung out with the master of satire Jonathan Swift, interpreting the English language and rethinking its possibilities. And Johnson was very strange. Contemporaries claimed that he liked to make wild "donkey" sounds in refined society. Dr. Johnson had an obsessive habit of rubbing his knee while talking, and in the street he would suddenly begin to gesticulate violently.
Familiar symptoms? Quite. Although at the time Dr. Johnson's tics caused fits of merriment in those around him, modern doctors have diagnosed him (posthumously) with Tourette's syndrome. Patients with this disease most often shout out swear words, but many sufferers simply experience muscle contractions and make involuntary sounds. Dr. Johnson obviously belonged to such unfortunate people. He cackled like a chicken, shook his head wildly, and whistled uncontrollably. At the end of his life, the symptoms of the disease became so aggravated that crowds of children ran along the street after Johnson, poked fingers at him and laughed.
The mysterious cold antipathy of H. F. Lovecraft
The founder of the myths about Cthulhu, he invented non-existent ancient books and convincingly referred to them in his works. The most famous of these inventions is the Necronomicon manuscript. Horror master Howard Phillips Lovecraft was an eccentric citizen. On the one hand, all his life he was an anti-Semite and at the same time managed to marry a Jewess out of absent-mindedness. On the other hand, Lovecraft was obsessed with the threat of interbreeding, which went beyond mere racism and grew into a pathological fear. But the strangest thing, perhaps, is this: “the father of terrible stories about ancient monsters” had an incomprehensible antipathy to the cold. As soon as the temperature dropped too low, Lovecraft fell dead in a deep faint. The writer woke up only when warmed up.
It is noteworthy that no one has yet figured out what the matter is. "Cold dislike", apparently, arose in Lovecraft already in adulthood - and, as they say, out of the blue. Some associated the disease with his frequent migraines, others suspected a psychological nature. Lovecraft himself attributed these attacks to cancer, which eventually killed the writer. In any case, due to the seizures, he developed extreme paranoia about the cold. A paranoia that seeped into some of his writings: for example, in the terrible "Cold Air".
Darwin's life was full of vomit
Already during the voyage on the Beagle, Darwin suffered from seasickness. Perhaps this provoked subsequent ailments? About a year after a long round-the-world trip on the Beagle, Charles Darwin fell ill with a strange illness that tormented the scientist until the end of his days. About three hours after eating, he began to experience severe pain in the abdomen, which turned into nightmarish nausea. In a moment, Darwin spewed out the contents of his stomach with a powerful fountain, after which he completely lost his strength. At times, the disease worsened so much that the famous naturalist became practically disabled. You know what's the scariest thing? The cause of the illness is not clear to this day.
Although Darwin was considered a suspicious hypochondriac by friends, modern physicians subsequently diagnosed him with cyclic vomiting syndrome (CVS). The trouble is that its causes have not yet been clarified. In our time, Darwin (if he were alive today) would have been given an accurate diagnosis, but even in 2016, doctors would hardly have been able to help the unfortunate patient. Was the ailment provoked by a sea voyage? God knows.
Julius Caesar had multiple strokes
The most famous ancient Roman emperor was a great politician, a talented commander, a laconic writer and a loving man. You may have heard that Julius Caesar suffered from epilepsy. That is how it has been thought for centuries. If we recall his symptoms - convulsions with convulsions - this seems very plausible. However, a 2015 study suggests a different version. Its author, with a high probability, suggests that Caesar had a series of mini-strokes.
In scientific language, this is called a series of transient ischemic attacks, but the essence is the same. The ruler of Rome may well have suffered not from the same ailment as Ian Curtis and Graham Greene, but from a string of debilitating strokes. If this is true, then Caesar was lucky that he was killed exactly when he was killed. A real stroke could make the emperor a complete invalid, left at the mercy of his enemies. Such a fate is much worse than a quick, ruthless dagger blow that ended the life of a great man.
Lenin's brain turned to stone
This disease is incurable today When the fiery revolutionary Vladimir Lenin finally died, he was only fifty-three years old. His death was preceded by a series of strokes, after which he was transferred under the personal care of Stalin. No one could understand what kind of illness attacked the leader of the proletariat. At first, Russian doctors suggested mental exhaustion. Then - lead poisoning. In the end, they thought of syphilis: they say that in ancient times almost everyone suffered from this terrible “French disease”.
After Lenin's death, an autopsy was performed, and only then did they discover the terrible truth. The leader's brain was slowly turning to stone.
The medical name for this disease is cerebrovascular atherosclerosis. Terrible sickness. Calcium deposits in Lenin's cerebral arteries became so ossified that they became almost solid. When the undertakers tapped the affected areas with tweezers, the sound came out like knocking on a stone. Doctors faced something incomprehensible and were helpless. The worst thing is that it was not only in the twenties of the last century. Even today, a person with such a disease would hardly have survived Lenin.
Amenhotep probably suffered from a hormonal disorder
He was famous for his religious reforms The Egyptian pharaoh Amenhotep (from the sixth year of his reign he began to be called Akhenaten) came from the same dynasty as Tutankhamun. Do you remember who Tutankhamun looked like? And you think that something was wrong with Akhenaten too? You think correctly. Akhenaten, like his more famous descendant, was also distinguished by a too elongated head.
However, he also had some "personal" oddities in appearance. In 2009, Irwin Braverman, a professor of dermatology and an imaging expert at Yale University School of Medicine, proposed his own theory. Amenhotep probably suffered from a hormonal disorder, so he had a feminine body.
In ancient drawings, Amenhotep was often depicted with wide hips, a narrow waist and female breasts. However, the pharaoh was a man, this is established for sure. It turns out that the artists were wrong? Or historians? Not necessary. Incest flourished in the dynasty, children were often born with genetic defects. Amenhotep may well have had a strong hormonal imbalance. In particular, the excessive synthesis of such an enzyme as aromatase would “overfeed” the future pharaoh with estrogen from childhood.
This would explain the mystery: why someone who seems to be a man looks suspiciously feminine in carved drawings. However, the mummy of Amenhotep has not yet been found. Until it is discovered, we can only guess how it really was.
King Herod suffered from a most shameful disease
Herod lived to an advanced age - up to seventy years During his reign, Herod the Great did a lot. For example, he built the largest artificial harbor in the Mediterranean. However, today Herod is mostly remembered as the man who gave the order to kill the children of Bethlehem under the age of two. He wanted to destroy the baby Jesus, but did not know where to find him, so he destroyed all the children in a row. Now, by the way, many doubt that the notorious beating of babies really took place. God clearly did not heed the warning. When the time came to cut off Herod's earthly existence, the Lord did it with the help of a very shameful means.
The ancient historian Josephus Flavius (he lived almost a hundred years after the death of Herod) wrote that the king was in a fever - but not with rage; his whole body itched unbearably, his insides constantly hurt, dropsy swelled on his feet, his stomach burned and burned, and his genitals were decomposing from gangrene.
In addition, Herod suffered from convulsions of the limbs and had bad, fetid breath, from which the colors curled up. However, the last five words of the above quote are the worst of all: the genitals were decomposing from gangrene. Herod's "manhood" became so infested with bacteria that it began to die off while still attached to it.
Today, this ailment is known as Fournier's gangrene. More painful and vile way to die, perhaps, you can not imagine. True, she did not kill Herod, although she became the last, very painful complication. There is an assumption that the biblical king was killed by a chronic kidney disease. Maybe so, but a disgusting picture has already forever imprinted in my head: Herod's rotting, all in ulcers, genitals are falling apart into pieces.
Yes, the life (and death) of historical figures was far from sugar ... I wonder what our descendants will say in centuries about the illnesses and health of today's famous people?
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When you look at photographs taken by the paparazzi, in which celebrities of various sizes shine, one thought sometimes comes to mind: the life of stars is nothing but a continuous holiday. But, of course, this is not so, because even the most successful people on our planet are ordinary people with their own problems. And health issues are no exception. For example, Oscar winner Halle Berry has been living with diabetes for almost 30 years, and beauty Chloe Kardashian was diagnosed with skin cancer. It is incredible, because people with such serious diseases continue to create, overcoming all sorts of obstacles.
We are in website we will tell you which of the celebrities faced incurable diseases, but did not give up and continued their life path further.
Halle Berry and Tom Hanks: Diabetes
- Almost 30 years ago, a tragic situation occurred on the set of the Living Dolls mini-series. Then aspiring actress Halle Berry fell into a coma. The girl was hospitalized, and then a disappointing diagnosis was made: type 1 diabetes mellitus. In one of the interviews, the actress admitted that it took her a lot of time to accept her illness, because she found out about her illness only at the age of 23.
According to the actress, after each major event with alcohol, desserts and various dishes, a difficult recovery period awaited her. It was then that Halle thought about her health. For many years she does not drink alcohol and leads a healthy lifestyle. This allows a 52-year-old woman to look 15 years younger than her age. It is worth noting that the actress first became a mother at 42 years old.
- Tom Hanks is in a similar position. For more than 20 years, the actor has struggled with high blood sugar levels, but the actor's lifestyle with regular stress, lack of sleep and poor diet has taken its toll. For example, for the film Cast Away, Tom lost 25 kg, and for the film A League of Their Own he gained 14 kg.
In October 2013, on The David Letterman Show, Tom Hanks admitted that he had been diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. Upon learning of the illness, the actor decided to give up his old habits in order to please fans with his creativity for as long as possible.
Pamela Anderson: Hepatitis C
The most important "rescuer from Malibu" was diagnosed with hepatitis C back in 2002. According to Pamela Anderson, she contracted this virus back in the 90s from her legal spouse, when they got tattoos with one needle. The actress was treated for the disease for almost 13 years. In 2015, Pamela Anderson announced that thanks to a new experimental treatment, she was able to get rid of the virus.
tom cruise dyslexia
Tom Cruise's childhood was not easy. The future sex symbol of America grew up in a large family, survived the divorce of his parents as a teenager, and by the age of 14 he managed to change 15 schools. But the most difficult test for Cruise was his incurable disease - dyslexia.
Due to dyslexia, as well as the accompanying dysgraphia, he was bullied at school and considered an outcast. After all, the boy could hardly read in syllables and practically did not know how to write. With such a set of "skills" in each new educational institution, he quickly passed for an idiot. But it was this heavy burden that helped Tom Cruise discover his acting talent. Being an "ignoramus" in the classroom, he was transformed on stage in school productions.
Now, we think, Cruise has no problems with reading scripts and contracts, because specially hired personnel do this for a millionaire.
Angelina Jolie and Shannen Doherty: Breast Removal
- In the summer of 2015, Shannen Doherty sued her former manager. According to the lawsuit, the manager incorrectly issued the actress’s medical insurance, which, in her opinion, she could not receive timely treatment and her breast cancer metastasized to the lymph nodes.
For almost 4 years, Shannen has been struggling with cancer. To stop the development of the disease, the actress underwent several courses of chemotherapy, radiation therapy, as well as a unilateral mastectomy, which in simple terms means breast removal. Most recently, the actress reported on remission - a state when the tumor is under control and treatable.
- A few years earlier, Angelina Jolie found herself in a similar situation. The mother and aunt of the actress at a relatively young age passed away after a long illness - the so-called tumor syndrome, which is inherited. And Angelina, after undergoing medical examinations, decided to remove the mammary glands and ovaries.
Jolie's genetic analysis showed an 87% chance of her developing breast cancer in the future and a 51% risk of uterine cancer. The actress underwent surgery to save herself from a yet-to-be-existing, but without emergency measures, almost inevitable threat.
Michael J Fox: Parkinson's disease
Officially, the illness of Michael J. Fox became known back in 1998. Then the actor admitted to his colleagues that in the early 90s he was diagnosed with a neurological disease - Parkinson's disease. When the actor first went to the doctor because of a twitching little finger, he was given a disappointing verdict: a maximum of 10 years of active life.
After his confession, the star of the trilogy "Back to the Future" took a break from his career, directing all his efforts to treatment. During this break, Michael J. Fox wrote 3 biographical books, in which he spoke in detail about the nuances of life with Parkinson's disease, and also became the founder of a charitable foundation. Through the efforts of this organization, they managed to raise $ 350 million for the study of this disease.
Sarah Hyland: kidney dysplasia
Modern Family star Sarah Hyland has suffered from health problems since early childhood. At the age of 9, Sarah was diagnosed with an extremely unpleasant disease - kidney dysplasia. For more than 10 years, the girl struggled with the disease, but in 2012 she had to undergo a kidney transplant, which her father donated for her.
It is worth noting that the organ transplant improved Sarah's condition, but did not cure her completely. Due to poor health, the girl rarely appears at public events, and fans of her character Haley Dunphy are increasingly noticing changes in the appearance of the actress. In his Instagram the girl frankly shares with subscribers the problems she has to face due to illness: from critical weight loss to a constantly swollen face.
Michael Phelps: Hyperactivity and Attention Deficit
American swimmer Michael Phelps, the only 23-time Olympic champion in the history of the sport, made his way to his triumph shoulder to shoulder with a diagnosis of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Michael's neurological-behavioral developmental disorder began in childhood. The main symptoms of hyperactivity are difficulty concentrating, as well as an inability to complete what has been started. In his interviews, Phelps' coach said that sometimes the swimmer forgot the way to the locker room, and their training became a living hell.
However, thanks to the efforts of the athlete and the people around him, Phelps managed to reach unimaginable heights in the world of sports. Now Michael Phelps is going through a difficult period. After the end of his sports career, the Olympic champion lost his life motivation and is now struggling with depression.
Mila Kunis partially blind
For many years, one of the most sought-after women in modern cinema, Mila Kunis, was blind in one eye. The cause of partial blindness was iritis. Due to inflammation of the iris, the actress could not see well, her vision was blurred, and objects were blurry. The girl put off going to the specialists for a long time, but in 2010 Mila underwent an operation by inserting an artificial lens. By the way, the blindness of the actress was kept in the strictest confidence until the full restoration of vision after the operation.
Hugh Jackman and Khloe Kardashian skin cancer
- The youngest of the Kardashian sisters is also extremely frank with her multimillion-dollar army of fans. Proof of this is not only the family show, in which the girl has been filming for more than 10 years, but also her posts on social networks. In one of her posts, Chloe said that in 2008, a malignant tumor was found on her body, which formed from a mole. Doctors had to transplant 20 cm of skin on the back of a celebrity to save her from the threat of life. Thanks to the efforts of specialists and constant monitoring, doctors managed to stop the course of the disease.
Daniel Radcliffe: dyspraxia
Actor Daniel Radcliffe, known throughout the world for his role as Harry Potter, admitted that from birth he suffers from a rare and incurable disease - dyspraxia. This is a violation of the functions of the brain, which manifests itself in the inability to properly perform purposeful movements or actions.
Radcliffe's illness prevents him from writing beautifully and tying his shoelaces, and as a child, the actor did not have time for any subject at school. And the point is not at all in constant filming, but in the inability of the brain to learn. According to Daniel, dyspraxia was the main reason why he chose a career as an actor.
Yolanda Hadid: Lyme disease
turned out to be a secret medical report. The document states that the first in line to the throne, a member of the ruling family of Great Britain is seriously ill. Prince Charles has been suffering from terminal Alzheimer's disease for several years. And every day his health is deteriorating. For the first time, they started talking about Charles's illness back in 2011, because of his state of health, his participation in the wedding of his eldest son could have been disrupted.Sources close to the royal family say that due to the illness of the prince, the next person to take the throne after the death of the monarch will be William, Duke of Cambridge.
This article was created not to talk about the shortcomings of stars of the first magnitude, but so that everyone who is faced with such difficulties knows that there is always a way out. And how we will live, what we will do, how society will perceive us, mainly depends only on us. Create, love and be happy no matter what!