Kit Harington, Nelly Furtado, & More

Nelly Furtado

Nelly Furtado told People that after welcoming two kids, she was diagnosed with ADHD, saying, “It made me realize I had ADHD. I’ve been diagnosed.”

“When I was attending college, [I was like] ‘Boing, boing, boing, boing.’ I’ve had it my whole life,” Furtado says. “But when I had my two youngest in close proximity, it made me very aware of my ADHD…. Yeah, it’s an everyday sort of study and focus, like, ‘How do we ground ourselves today?’ A lot of people are struggling with that. How do we focus? How do we ground ourselves? We have so much distraction — you have to give yourself grace.”

Kit Harington

On a recent appearance on the Hidden 20% podcast with Ben Branson, Kit Harington revealed that he was diagnosed with ADHD while in rehab, however, he has a great support system to help him out along the way. 

“I realised that my life was hanging on this. Luckily it was the right place at the right time. I managed to forge a new life from there,” he said. “When it happens I can… bring the whole room down. And a little part of me likes it that I’m having this effect. So I have to be very aware that it’s happening and remove myself from the situation.”

Paris Hilton

The Simple Life star first talked about her ADD when she sat down with Larry King after spending 23 days behind bars in June 2007. The tabloids speculated that Hilton was on “medications of a serious type” during this time, and Hilton clarified that she takes medication for ADD. 

“I have been on medication since I was a child. I have ADD. So I take medication for that,” she explained at the time. 

She has since opened up about her ADHD and even called it her “superpower.”

“I am a risk taker; I am a creative. My Mind is always moving. I am always thinking of new ways to do business,” she said in a clip she posted to Instagram in May 2022. “I think it gives me this drive and edge I needed to succeed. It can be a superpower if nurtured in the right way!”

Renee Rapp

Renee Rapp talked to Official Charts about how she embraces her diagnosis, saying, “I didn’t know I had ADHD as a kid, I just thought I was really dramatic! I am, but that’s a separate thing. I didn’t know or understand what it was, but now I do and I really love it. I think it helps me a lot. When I’m writing a song, ten songs are coming out of that concept. My brain is in ten different places. I actually really enjoy it. It’s exhausting, don’t get me wrong, but it’s really fun. If it’s somebody else’s story and a different creative process, I don’t do as well and I might panic. When it’s my thing, though, I’m like ‘wow, I have so many ideas!’”

Penn Holderness

Holderness was diagnosed with ADHD when he was 20 years old and in college. Speaking with NIH Medline Plus, Holderness described how he had figured out a system of how to live with ADHD even before he was diagnosed, including sitting in the front row of classes “or I would space out.” 

When he first got diagnosed, Holderness was a bit angry, but also relieved. “It helped explain what was going on because I was struggling more with schoolwork in college,” he said. He credits his ADHD for helping him win The Amazing Race in 2022, saying “that was the most comfortable” he had been and it was something that “my ADHD brain is good at.” He is releasing a book in April all about ADHD and what it’s like to live “in a world that wasn’t designed for you”.  

Holderness is eager to make sure his followers struggling with ADHD know life is not over after diagnosis. “Don’t ever feel alone. There is a huge community of people who have this and support you. I just want people to know that they are not broken. You are going to be OK.”

Channing Tatum

In 2014, Tatum addressed having ADHD during a Reddit “Ask Me Anything” (AMA). “Everyone’s on a spectrum. Some people really need [medications] to help them, and others could maybe go on a different route,” he said of ADHD.

Tatum has also talked about how he struggled with ADHD and dyslexia in high school. 

“Not having early success on that one path messes with you,” he told The New York Times Style Magazine. “You get lumped in classes with kids with autism and Down syndrome, and you look around and say, ‘Okay, so this is where I’m at.’ Or you get put in the typical classes and you say, ‘All right, I’m obviously not like these kids either.’ So you’re kind of nowhere. You’re just different.”

Simone Biles

In 2016, Olympic gymnast Simone Biles had no choice but to be open about having ADHD after Russian hackers broke into the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) database and exposed athletes’ private medical records, including hers. Critics accused her of using her ADHD medication for a competitive edge.

Shortly after the hack, Biles took to Twitter to talk about it.

“I have ADHD and I have taken medicine for it since I was a kid. Please know, I believe in clean sport, have always followed the rules, and will continue to do so as fair play is critical to sport and is very important to me,” she wrote. 

“Having ADHD, and taking medicine for it is nothing to be ashamed of nothing that I’m afraid to let people know.”

Adam Levine

In 2014, the Maroon 5 frontman opened up about having ADHD after starring in the “Own It” campaign, meant to destigmatize ADHD. 

“When I was first diagnosed with ADHD, it wasn’t a surprise because I had difficulty in high school focusing,” Levine said in the PSA. “And I think now, people notice my ADHD as an adult on a daily basis. When I can’t pay attention, I really can’t pay attention.”

“If somebody approached me and said that anything that I said, helped them figure it out — or someone came to me and said I need help what do you suggest I do – the first thing I would suggest they do is see somebody,” he says. “See a doctor about it.”

Solange Knowles

According to Black Doctor, the Castles in the Sky singer didn’t believe that she had ADHD, despite being diagnosed twice.

“I was diagnosed with ADHD twice. I didn’t believe the first doctor who told me and I had a whole theory that ADHD was just something they invented to make you pay for medicine, but then the second doctor told me I had it.”

She also noted that she is likely not the only musician with ADHD, given the traits. “The symptoms seem to apply to everyone around me in the industry. Loss of memory, starting something and not finishing it…”

Zooey Deschanel

The New Girl star first shared that she has ADHD in a blog post for her site HelloGiggles back in 2011. 

“Are you an unmedicated adult with Attention Deficit Disorder who also LOVES to do crafts? I AM! I barely have the patience to write this opening paragraph (I have already gotten up four times), so I need to focus my unfocused mind on projects that can be completed very quickly. Am I going to knit a scarf? NO! Will I knit a scarf for a bunny? I don’t know. Maybe, if it’s a really small field bunny and I am knitting with giant knitting needles. I recognize I will never complete something that takes any kind of patience (sorry needlepoint) so I decided to focus this blog on crafts I CAN complete,” she wrote in the intro.

Michelle Rodriguez

“I want to write and direct but it’s not easy with ADHD. I have a hard time focusing when I’m alone,” Michelle Rodriguez shared in a video interview for Cosmopolitan back in 2013.

Trevor Noah

Trevor Noah did some destigmatizing when he opened up about having ADHD, saying his depression was likely caused by it. “Well, I think over the years, what I’ve come to learn, thanks to some great therapists, is my depression is created by a severe level of ADHD,” he explained to CBS News in 2021.

“So [ADHD] can be different for different people. I’m not– you know? But, like, so for myself, it means that if I’m not careful in how I sleep, how I eat, how I– how I manage my routine I can become overwhelmed and it can just feel like the whole world is just too heavy to bear,” he explained.

Daniel Kwan

Everything Everywhere All At Once director Daniel Kwan discovered that he had ADHD as he and his directing partner Daniel Scheinert were researching for their Oscar-winning film.

“So I started doing some research. And then I stayed up until like, four in the morning, just reading everything I could find about it, just crying, just realizing that, ‘Oh, my God, I think I have ADHD,’” he explained to Salon. “So this movie is the reason why I got diagnosed. I got diagnosed, I went to therapy for a year and then went to a psychiatrist. And I’m now on meds, and it’s such a beautiful, cathartic experience to realize why your life has been so hard.”

Justin Timberlake

During a 2008 interview with Collider, Justin Timberlake was straigtening out records when he explained to the interviewer, “I have OCD mixed with ADD, you try living with that.”

Michael Phelps

Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps has always been candid about his mental health journey. In 2017, he starred in the Child Mind Institute‘s Speak Up for Kids campaign, aiming to destigmatize ADHD, which he also has.

“I [saw] kids who, we were all in the same class, and the teachers treated them differently than they would treat me,” he recalled to Sports Illustrated. “I had a teacher tell me that I would never amount to anything and I would never be successful.” Clearly they were wrong!

Lisa Ling

Award-winning journalist Lisa Ling knew something was up as soon as she starting researching ADHD for a story. “As I was watching these kids and their parents talk about [their ADHD], I felt like it’s not really fair of me to just watch this happen,” Ling shared in a Distraction Podcast episode.

“Because this is something that I always suspected of myself, I felt compelled to finally after 30-some years get tested, and so I worked with one of the doctors that we profiled in our episode, and he went through the battery of tests and confirmed that I had ADHD.”

Audra McDonald

Broadway star Audra McDonald got into some hot water when she accepted her sixth Tony back in 2014. The star, who has ADHD, thanked her mother in her acceptance speech “for disobeying the doctor’s orders and not medicating their hyper-active girl and finding out what she was into instead, and pushing her into the theatre.” 

McDonald quickly clarified that she was not condemning parents for putting their children on ADHD medication, noting that “I myself have benefited from psychotropic drugs to help combat depression in my youth.”

Will.i.am

The Black Eyed Peas rapper revealed to the Daily Mail that he has “suffered from ADHD for years,” back in 2018. But now, the artist views ADHD as a gift. 

“I’ve learned how to control it. I can talk, look at that person, think about what I have to do now and what am I going to eat later. I don’t see if as a flaw.”

Karina Smirnoff

Dancing with the Stars dancer Kaarina Swirnoff shared her personal experience with ADHD back in 2012.

“My parents tried anything and everything just to address my inattention and provide an outlet for my hyperactivity,” she explained to the Saturday Evening Post. “They enrolled me in activities that held my interest like figure skating, ballet, gymnastics, and playing the piano. Throughout my life, I have found ways to cope with my symptoms, because I thought they were just part of who I am.”

“After speaking with my doctor and getting diagnosed with ADHD, I realized that having tools—such as medication and organizational strategies—would help manage my symptoms. In addition to recommending strategies, such as taking breaks during rehearsals, my doctor prescribed medication, as part of my ADHD treatment plan. Like most adults, my schedule is very busy. My day is filled with 10-hour dance rehearsals for my television show, teaching choreography, dancing in shows, and constant travel. With improvement in my ADHD symptoms, I can focus on finishing what I start.”

Howie Mandel

Howie Mandel recalled that when he was a child, his ADHD symptoms did not have a name.

“I was diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) as an adult, but I don’t remember a time when I didn’t have them,” he wrote for ADDitude.

While he uses a combination of medication and therapy for his ADHD, Mandel noted that treatment isn’t the same for everyone and that getting diagnosed is a great first step for anyone who suspects they have ADHD.

Ty Pennington

The Revolution host talked about his experience of having ADHD with a kid with HuffPost back in February 2012.

“My mom was studying to be a child psychologist and she went to my elementary school to test the worst kid they had. They were like, ‘Mrs. Pennington, you really don’t want to know who that is.’ They let her observe me through a window and within 20 minutes I stripped naked, wore my desk around and swung on the blinds. I was just a complete distraction to all the other students,” he recalled. 

“Hyperactivity is just one aspect of ADHD. There’s distractibility and there’s impulsivity,” he added. “I was the type of kid who would jump off a building — not only would I get a rush from it, people might laugh and think it was cool. I’m that kid and you don’t really grow out of it.”

Russell Brand

Brand has been diagnosed with bipolar and ADHD in the past, and Brand knows that many people recognize him for his confidence and might even question his diagnoses.

“Outside of performing I’m not a particularly confident person. I’m shy, awkward, nervous, gauche,” he explained the The Independent. ” My confidence is for what I know that I’m good at. I’ve been sculpted by failure and by time. You see me doing my job. You know, obviously I am different when I am chatting to my mum. Or playing with my cat. People are multi-faceted, aren’t they?”

Mary-Kate Olsen

Remember when Mary-Kate Olsen attended NYU in the early aughts? It was during this time she opened up about having ADD and the accomodations needed. “I get extra time to take the test because of my ADD. Everybody’s brains work differently and I just need longer for things to register,” she explained at the time.

Will Smith

During an interview with Rolling Stone, Smith described what type of student he used to be as a child. “I was the fun one who had trouble paying attention. Today they’d diagnose me as a child with ADHD [attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder],” he explained.

“I was a B student who should’ve been getting A’s – classic underachiever. It was hard for me to read an entire book in two weeks. Today I buy a book and have someone read it for me on tape!”

Justin Bieber

Back in 2016, then-22-year-old Justin Bieber opened up about ADHD on stage at a show in Manchester.

“I think I have ADD, ADHD or something like that when my mind doesn’t work properly.”

“It doesn’t. Maybe I’m just different. Do you guys like different. Who wants to be just like everybody else, you know? I think that’s boring,” he said. The singer told GQ he was taking adderall for his ADHD, but that he was “getting a lot of anxiety, and [my doctors] think it’s stemming from the Adderall. That’s why I’ve stopped taking it,” he explained. 

Sylvester Stallone

While Sylvester Stallone was never officially diagnosed, the actor has a feeling he has ADHD based on his childhood antics alone. 

“You can probably tell right now I tend to be a little hyper, and that’s exactly what it is. Back then they had no tolerance for it. If you’re out there flirting with some girl, walking outside, watching a caterpillar walk up your arm…

“Things like that you were more interested in than school, you were gone. Especially in the days of the Catholic schools. Finally they just said, ‘You cannot come back to school, period’ and I was like, OK, I’ll become an actor,” he said.

“Today they call it ADD, but I was ADDAA+AA!” he laughed.

Karlie Kloss

“I have ADHD, and I definitely struggled with it when I was younger,” model Karlie Kloss told The Evening Standard in 2017. The model has a special interest in coding and even has an initiative called “Kode with Klossy.” During the 2017 TechCrunch Disrupt Hackathon, her team of high school girl coders beat out 750 engineers with a virtual reality app designed to treat and manage ADHD, per Fast Company.

Ryan Gosling

Although Gosling has not come forward with an official diagnosis, his time in school as a child sounds similiar to many people with ADHD. “I didn’t feel very smart. They kept passing me in school even though I didn’t know how to do things I should have known how to do. Like, I couldn’t read…I couldn’t absorb any of the information, so I caused trouble,” he said in an interview with Entertainment Weekly. He credits being home-schooled for his success. 

Chynna Phillips Baldwin

The Wilson Phillips singer opened up about her “crippling” ADHD in a YouTube video in February 2024. “I have been talking to my doctor about this for a while because I’m not quite sure what to do about this situation because it’s gnarly,” she explained, adding that focusing for more than 30 seconds at a time feels “impossible” for her.

“I feel pretty alone in this, even though I know … that so many millions of people suffer from [ADHD],” Phillips said. “There’s a little bit of shame wrapped up around [having ADHD].”

Greta Gerwig

Barbie director Greta Gerwig has been open about her ADHD diagnosis as an adult. In a 2023 interview with The Observer, she shared stories of her busy childhood. She was a “real rule follower” and had “a ton of energy”. Due to her “tremendous amount of enthusiasm”, her mother put her in “every activity” in an attempt to “tire her out”. 

She described herself as having a “really active imagination” which for a future 3 time Oscar Nominee, it makes sense. Gerwig had “deep feelings” and “was emotional” as a child, and has dedicated herself to her love for movies and art. 

Barry Keoghan

In a 2023 interview with Esquire, the “Saltburn” star discussed the realities of ADHD and what his diagnosis meant to him after being diagnosed in 2020. Keoghan believes that ADHD should be “recognized and talked about in adults” in order to bring awareness to this disorder. He said that after his diagnosis he began to take his medication and the difference is like “day and night”. There was like a “traffic jam” in his mind and now it’s like “one car goes and then another car goes”. Medication has helped him organize his thoughts and emotions. 

In a 2022 episode of Amy Huberman’s Mamia and Me podcast, per The Irish Examiner, Keoghan stated he “knew I had it growing up” and he attributed it to “not sitting still, (being) easily distracted or not being able to focus on something for X amount of time”.

Brenden Urie

Panic! at the Disco frontman Brendon Urie was diagnosed with ADHD at age 13, and began to take medication right away, he said in a 2016 town hall conversation with Musicians Institute. After about a year he decided he did not want to take it anymore and quit. Urie said it “freaked me out” and he was not liking who he “had become”. He tried medicine again when his band was growing in popularity but ultimately quit again because he did not “want to just numb this”. He would rather be himself and “cope with this” and it took awhile for him to accept that.  

He maintains that although it does “affect everything” he does it is not a “detriment” to his goals and instead has a “positive effect”. He uses his craft and “creating stuff” as a way to release all his energy and emotion.