Shaun Ryder says people mistake his ADHD for drug-taking.
Shaun Ryder
The 58-year-old singer was diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) - which can cause inattentiveness, hyperactivity and impulsiveness - as an adult and admits most people think his erratic behaviour is down to years of drug-taking.
He said: “It does p*** me off, that. No, this condition has been with me since I was f****** born. For the first 40-something years of my life, I didn’t know I had it.
“When I was at school they didn’t know about ADHD, there were just four sets, one being the brightest and four being crowd control.
“So every kid in my class, now I think about it, was autistic or ADHD. You’re made to think you’re stupid because you can’t learn like other people.”
The Happy Mondays frontman found his ADHD caused some difficulty when trying to write jokes for his performance on Channel 4's 'Stand Up And Deliver'.
The music star has teamed up with Jason Manford for the show and he admits it's been a "real challenge".
The 39-year-old comedian said: "Shaun’s got severe ADHD. So remembering things, collecting information and taking on new thoughts, it’s been a real challenge. Is he a good student? No, not at all!”
Jason struggled to get Shaun to focus enough to put pen to paper and write some jokes based on stories from his past.
He explained to the Daily Mirror newspaper: “Shaun is a naturally funny guy. He’s obviously performed a lot over the last four, five decades, I guess and, in that respect, he’s already got the hard part down which is stage presence and confidence.
“He’s got that in abundance. Some people might say he’s got too much! So I’ve had to try and sort of rein him in a little bit to find out where the real Shaun Ryder is, not just the public perception he has. That has been the biggest challenge, to find those stories about him that are very funny but also a bit revealing or interesting. He’s had a hell of a life. He’s probably lived five lifetimes in the world. It’s been an eye-opener, I must say!”
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