The Atlantic

When a 'Diva' Is Diagnosed

Will Mariah Carey’s battle with bipolar II disorder make people reevaluate how they’ve talked about her behavior?
Source: Carlo Allegri / Reuters

Though diagnosed in 2001, the pop titan Mariah Carey kept quiet about her mental illness until speaking to People for this week’s cover story titled, “My Battle With Bipolar Disorder.” It was only recently that she began receiving treatment for her swings between hypomania and depression, having previously lived in denial of her bipolar II disorder. She says she’s now going public because she’s “in a really good place right now” and is “hopeful we can get to a place where the stigma is lifted from people going through anything alone.”

The reaction. In a , Robin Roberts read a representative tweet from someone who said, “I’ve always loved her music, I didn’t like her, but now I understand and respect her.”

You’re reading a preview, subscribe to read more.

More from The Atlantic

The Atlantic4 min read
Hayao Miyazaki’s Anti-war Fantasia
Once, in a windowless conference room, I got into an argument with a minor Japanese-government official about Hayao Miyazaki. This was in 2017, three years after the director had announced his latest retirement from filmmaking. His final project was
The Atlantic7 min readAmerican Government
The Americans Who Need Chaos
This is Work in Progress, a newsletter about work, technology, and how to solve some of America’s biggest problems. Sign up here. Several years ago, the political scientist Michael Bang Petersen, who is based in Denmark, wanted to understand why peop
The Atlantic4 min read
KitchenAid Did It Right 87 Years Ago
My KitchenAid stand mixer is older than I am. My dad bought the white-enameled machine 35 years ago, during a brief first marriage. The bits of batter crusted into its cracks could be from the pasta I made yesterday or from the bread he made then. I

Related Books & Audiobooks