Posts Tagged Brooke Shields

CELEBS: Catherine Zeta-Jones and others can reduce stigma of mental illness

Posted by Amy Steele in Women/ feminism on April 14, 2011

On Monday, Catherine Zeta-Jones’s publicist announced that she’d been hospitalized for treatment of bi-polar disorder. She has bi-polar II disorder which means she has more periods of depression than mania. She’s had a stressful year and external situations take a toll on anyone and particularly those who already have a mental illness. The best part of this is that Catherine Zeta-Jones can provide a high profile example that mental illness is a disease like alcoholism that needs constant monitoring and treatment but shouldn’t mean that people feel the need to keep the person at a distance.

according to the CDC, 1 in 10 Americans reports depression at some time during their lives.

Although Tom Cruise disastrously stole away her true message, Brooke Shields wrote a wonderful book about her post-partum depression called Down Came the Rain.

Ashley Judd has a new memoir, All That is Bitter and Sweet, where she discusses her battles with depression.

Judd also stars in the film Helen [available via netflix instant] where she plays a woman who hides her depression and has a major breakdown. It’s an excellent performance and quite a good film. I have depression and I thought the depiction very accurate. Although depression manifests itself differently in everyone.

The rich and famous aren’t immune.

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DVD review: Who Do You Think You Are? Season One

Posted by Amy Steele in DVD, TV on March 6, 2011

Rated: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: Acorn Media
DVD Release Date: March 15, 2011
Run Time: 293 minutes

Lisa Kudrow and writer/director Don Roos co-produced this intriguing series that follows celebrities as they work with genealogists, historians and researchers to investigate their family histories. It’s heartfelt and uplifting. Sarah Jessica Parker [Sex and the City], Matthew Broderick [Wonderful World, Addicted to Love], Lisa Kudrow [The Opposite of Sex, Friends], director Spike Lee [Malcolm X, 25th Hour] , Susan Sarandon [Dead Man Walking, Thelma & Louise], Brooke Shields [The Blue Lagoon, Suddenly Susan] and former Dallas Cowboys player Emmitt Smith take unforgettable, fascinating journeys to trace their roots.

Sarah Jessica Parker travels to California to find out information about a relative who may have been in the Gold Rush. Interesting Gold Rush fact: 10 people died for every mile traveled. Then she finds herself in New England and Salem, Mass. where a relative has some connection with the Salem witch trials. Is her relative an accuser or an accused? I won’t reveal it. Sarah’s husband Matthew Broderick has two relatives who fought in major wars. His great-grandfather served as part of the Connecticut regiment and fought at Gettysburg. Remember that Matthew played a Civil War hero in the film Glory? Lisa Kudrow’s research takes her to Minsk, Belarus. Her great-grandmother was killed in the Holocaust. She was “killed and burned.” Kudrow states: “You make people afraid enough of something completely manufactured and you can drive them to be cold-blooded murderers.” Emmitt Smith and Spike Lee both find slave-owner ancestors. Lee reunites with a relative he didn’t know he even had. Brooke Shields discovers her royal connections [she’s related to Henry IV 25 times removed]. Finally Susan Sarandon traces her artistic ancestors to Tuscany. Fun fact: 50, 000 Italians immigrated to America in 1888.

In finding out about their familial background, the stars inevitably uncover aspects about themselves in the process. Who Do You Think You Are? is riveting and intriguing.

Purchase at Amazon: Who Do You Think You Are?: Season One

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