Illustration by Ana Mouriño
Catherine Zeta-Jones crystalized her fame when she won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress for her role as Velma Kelly in the movie adaptation of the musical Chicago. The film also won Best Picture at the 2002 ceremony. The show’s signature number, “All That Jazz,” features Zeta-Jones on lead vocals.
Since then, she’s played a detective in the 2004 crime caper Ocean’s Twelve, reteamed with Antonio Banderas in 2005’s The Legend of Zorro, and taken on the role of a psychiatrist in Steven Soderbergh’s Side Effects.
She also won praise for her role as the wife of a drug kingpin in the 2000 film Traffic, which also stars Michael Douglas as a DEA agent. The 45-year-old actress and style icon has since married Academy Award-winning actor Douglas.
Along with Carrie Fisher, Zeta-Jones is an actress who has been completely transparent about her bipolar disorder.
“I’m not the kind of person who likes to shout out my personal issues from the rooftops, but with my bipolar becoming public, I hope fellow sufferers will know it’s completely controllable,” she told InStyle magazine. “I hope I can help remove any stigma attached to it, and that those who don’t have it under control will seek help with all that is available to treat it.”
Zeta-Jones’ disclosure of her bipolar disorder is admirable. An A-list, fully-functioning Hollywood actress speaking out about her disease is inspiring to both others who face bipolar head-on and those who may not know they have the illness.
In April of 2011, Zeta-Jones was admitted to a mental health facility, where she was diagnosed with Bipolar II, the less severe manifestation of the disease.
Husband Michael Douglas has been completely supportive of his wife’s condition.
“It’s a slippery slope, this bipolar stuff,” he told the Daily Mail. “Sometimes you don’t think you need any meds at all, and you forget your meds. Then all of a sudden, you get on a real ride.”
When Douglas went through a battle with stage IV throat cancer, it took a toll on Zeta-Jones’ bipolar.
Publicist Sarah Fuller told the Associated Press that Zeta-Jones “is committed to periodic care in order to manage her health in an optimum manner.”
In May of 2013, Zeta-Jones checked herself into rehab during an episode.
Douglas told People magazine: “She’s doing a really good job of getting balanced. I’m proud of her.”
“She’s got herself worked out with her meds and she’s raring to go!” he said in Us magazine.
Catherine Zeta-Jones is slated to star in Dad’s Army, a British war-comedy that will be released February 5, 2016. She will also play a journalist in The Godmother, about former drug lord Griselda Blanco, who is known as the Cocaine Godmother. That film is currently in production with a theatrical release scheduled for 2016.
By placing her bipolar in a fishbowl, she most certainly helps others come to terms with their illness and seek help. While it can’t be easy keeping up with a busy filming schedule, she’s managed to do it, despite her bipolar, proving once again that our illness does not have to be not debilitating.
