Greetings Earthlings! 🙂

As neurodivergence is increasing in popularity, more and more celebrities are divulging their autism diagnosis/spectrum suspicions. Leading on from my previous two posts about celebrities with autism, it’s time for part 3 of this series.

David Byrne

The eccentric former front man of new wave band Talking Heads identifies as being on the autistic spectrum (he’s specifically mentioned Asperger’s syndrome). In interviews, David has talked a lot about his social struggles and see’s autism as a superpower that has allowed him to hyperfocus on all of his musical projects. However, David has not been professionally diagnosed.

Fern brady

Scottish comedian Fern Brady has been very open about her autism diagnosis and how stand up comedy has really helped her. She finds it very reassuring having her comedy routine set so that every night she stands up and says the same words to her audience. Outside of comedy she spends a lot of time, like many maskers, rehearsing what she is going to say to people. She recently wrote a book about her experiences and diagnosis journey Strong Female Character. Here’s a clip of Fern talking about the book and her experiences of autism:

James McClean

Republic of Ireland and Wrexham footballer James McClean, like many adults, discovered he was autistic after his daughter was diagnosed. He noticed similar traits and pursued a diagnosis, going public during autism awareness month 2023 to support his daughter, and attributes his success in football to his specialist interest in the sport.

Sam Thompson

British TV personality Sam Thompson was diagnosed with autism, tic syndrome and ADHD in 2023 as part of a Channel 4 documentary. Sam said: “I’ve always known there was something slightly different about me, but it’s only since I’ve started to ‘adult’ a bit more that I’ve wanted to figure it out, because a lot of symptoms were getting worse.”

Bradley Riches

Heartstopper actor Bradley was diagnosed with autism at the age of 9 and has written a children’s book called ‘“A” Different Kind Of Superpower‘ to help kids celebrate their neurodivergence. Bradley recently’ opened up about his experiences of autism during his stint on Celebrity Big Brother and how living in the Big Brother House can be challenging, but he is determined to push through with his coping mechanisms to enjoy his time on the show.

Tallulah Willis

This week, daughter of Bruce Willis and Demi Moore, Tallulah Willis revealed that she was diagnosed with autism in 2o23, saying that the diagnosis has changed her life. She made the announcement by sharing a video on Instagram from the red carpet with her father as a child where she is stimming on his ears.

Carrie Grant

British singer, vocal coach and TV presenter Carrie Grant was diagnosed with autism as an adult in 2023 at the age of 58. All of her children are neurodivergent and for many years people had been asking her when she was going to be assessed herself.

Holly Madison

Former Playboy bunny Holly Maddison opened up about her autism diagnosis which she received as an adult in the last couple of years. “The doctor told me that I have high executive functioning, which means I can pretty much go about my life and do things ‘normally,'” Holly said. “I think because I’m more quiet, I’ve only recently learned to make eye contact. I’m often in my own thoughts, things like that, so people take that as offensive. … I’m just not on the same social wavelength as other people but don’t take it personally.”

Kanye West

Supposed texts between US rapper Kanye West and Elon Musk shared online have claimed in recent months that Kanye thinks he has autistic traits after a car crash 20 years ago and that he is not Bipolar after all. Now this is an interesting one as autism is a lifelong condition, not just something that happens after a car crash (not to mention that having autism doesn’t preclude you from having Bipolar as the two conditions are often co-morbid). It’s quite possible that Kanye is indeed on the spectrum as his behaviour can be quite erratic and impulsive (throwback to interrupting Taylor Swift to praise Beyoncé at the VMAs), but this is also consistent with Bipolar on it’s own. Nevertheless, it’s an interesting one to keep an eye out for- perhaps he will seek a formal diagnosis going forward.

Hope you enjoyed this post dear Earthlings!

Have a lovely weekend! 🙂

Aoife