Faye Dunaway has opened up about being diagnosed with bipolar disorder.
Faye Dunaway has opened up about being diagnosed with bipolar disorder
The 83-year-old ‘Bonnie and Clyde’ actress tells of her health woe in the new HBO documentary about her life titled ‘Faye’ and explains how she was put on medication for the condition after being probed by doctors.
She says in the movie: “I worked with a group of doctors who analysed my behaviour, who gave me prescriptions for pills they thought would be good for me. And that helped.
“So I am quieter. But throughout my career, people know there were tough times.”
Faye gained a reputation for being “difficult” in Hollywood – with her fellow acting veteran Bette Davis, who died aged 81 in 1989, once telling chat show host Johnny Carson she was “impossible” and “uncooperative” on set.
The ‘Chinatown’ star adds in her new film about her temperament: “I don’t mean to make an excuse about it, I am still responsible for my actions.
“But this is what I came to understand, was the reason for them. It’s something you need to be aware of, you need to try to do the right thing to take care of it.
“(My mental health is) a sensitivity and it’s something that is just a part of my makeup … Thank God there is medication and there are studies, and there are doctors who deal with this and I’ve been able to benefit from that. Medication is crucial and without it, you fall back into what is there psychologically and biologically.”
‘Faye’ is directed by Laurent Bouzereau, 62, and features interviews with actors Sharon Stone, 66, and Mickey Rourke, 71, as well as 55-year-old director James Gray.
The film tells of Faye’s childhood and rise to fame in classics including ‘Network’.
Her son Liam Dunaway O’Neill, 43, who Faye had with British photographer Terry O’Neill, 81, also appears in the documentary, saying: “If she wasn’t in so much pain, would she have been that good? You have to take the good with the bad, that’s just life.”
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