Los Angeles

Ellen DeGeneres has revealed several health diagnoses including osteoporosis, OCD (obsessive-compulsive disorder) and ADHD (attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder), in her new Netflix special For Your Approval. The former talk show host spoke candidly about ageing and the personal challenges she has faced since stepping away from the spotlight.

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DeGeneres shared that she was diagnosed with osteoporosis after undergoing a bone density test. "I don’t even know how I’m standing up right now. I’m like a human sandcastle. I could disintegrate in the shower." 

“I had excruciating pain one day and I thought I tore a ligament or something and I got an MRI and they said, ‘No, it’s just arthritis.’ I said, ‘How did I get that?’ And he said, ‘Oh it just happens at your age,'” she recalled.

Osteoporosis is a condition where bones lose density, increasing the risk of fractures.

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In the special, DeGeneres also talked about her mental health. Following backlash over allegations of a toxic workplace on The Ellen DeGeneres Show, she sought therapy, where she discovered she had OCD and ADHD. Reflecting on her OCD diagnosis, she admitted that her upbringing in Christian Science left her unaware of her mental health conditions.

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“I didn’t know what OCD was. I was raised in a religion, Christian Science, that doesn’t acknowledge diseases or disorders. So when I was growing up, nobody talked about anything. There was no discussion of anything,” she said.

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DeGeneres humorously acknowledged her ADHD, admitting how it affects her ability to focus and maintain attention on tasks. “My ADD makes it really hard to sit down and focus on anything at all. I mean, do you know how hard it was for me to put this together? Of course, you don’t. Why would I ask that question? It’s hard for me to focus,” she told a laughing crowd.

In the end, she said, “So, I have ADD, I have OCD, I’m losing my memory. But I think I’m well-adjusted because I obsess about things but then I don’t have the attention span to stick with it and I quickly forget what I was obsessing about in the first place. So, it takes me all the way around to being well-adjusted, I think.”

She also addressed the public controversy surrounding her in 2020, when her show was accused of fostering a toxic work environment. DeGeneres shared that she no longer lets public opinion dictate her self-worth, stating, "What other people think of me is none of my business."