Yesterday morning Catherine Zeta-Jones appeared on Good Morning America to promote the Gerard Butler/Jessica Biel rom-com Playing For Keeps, in which she has a small role, and alluded to how difficult the year had been for her family health-wise ("You know, after Michael had his cancer and then I had my issues, I had to stop for a moment.") Her issues, of course, were a struggle with and subsequent treatment for Bipolar II Disorder.
GMA host Elizabeth Vargas inquired, with some trepidation, "How are you now? How are you feeling now?"
Zeta-Jones responded, matter-of-factly:
"You know what? I'm sick of talking about it because I never wanted to be the poster child for this. I never wanted this to come out publicly. It came out. I dealt with it the best way I could. It was just saying, ‘Hey, I'm bipolar. Everyone has things going on and we deal with them the best we can. We can't jump from the rooftop shouting, ‘I have this, look at me, victim.' We all have issues in life. And I'm really happy that I have great friends, great support, and that's all I can do."
Although part of me wishes that Zeta-Jones would make it a point to speak out in order to diffuse some of the social stigma of the disorder, big ups to her for owning it.
'Catherine Zeta-Jones Gets Annoyed on GMA: I'm "Sick" of Bipolar Disorder Talk' [Gossip Cop]