People with Bipolar Disorder are Extra Sensitive, Loving, and Kind

Kim Novak did a sit down interview with Robert Osborne of TCM (Turner Classic Movies) her first interview in 20 years.  She did not like Hollywood fame life in general.  I was struck by her candid answers and her belief about how life unfolded to her, she just let life happen without force.

She said she became a Hollywood star through a visit to LA while on a modeling tour.  She and a girlfriend visited a movie set and she was asked to be a cameo model in a film.  A director saw her and invited her to audition for a part.  The part she auditioned was for her to star in.  From this she went on to work with great directors including Alfred Hitchcock in"Vertigo" with the great actor Jimmy Stewart. She loved playing this dual personality part because she had two or more people struggling inside of her constantly due to her manic depression.

She now lives in Oregon with a loving husband. He is an equestrienne veterinarian, her dream long ago before modeling was to be this vet.  She prefers nature to the Hollywood lights.  She has animals and she rides her horses with her husband.  Life is calm and peaceful now, she takes medicine for her Bipolar condition.

She tells of growing up in a crazy house. Her father had Bipolar disorder but there was no diagnosis and no medicines back then. Her father never told her he loved her or was proud of her.  The only movie premiere he attended with his wife and daughter he walked out on halfway through the movie and never told Kim she did well for herself.  He did manage to tell her once he loved her when he was on his deathbed.

Today she paints beautiful portraits and hopes to have a public show. She believes anyone that has mental illness can find great expression through art. She plans to sell her paintings and donate all the profits to the Mental Health Field. She feels it is so important to understand, research, and help those of us with mental illness.

The negative stigma of mental illness will in time die down so people that suffer can get the help they need with no shame.  This is "New Age Thinking" that will be accepted one day to the welfare of all.
Our family has two diagnosed people with Bipolar disorder. (I suspect others in the last generation have it as well but were never diagnosed)  Learning how to live with and help them has been a study of mine.  I see first hand they are extremely sensitive, loving, and kind and like Kim want to be loved and accepted like all of us, maybe even more.