Famous People With Schizophrenia

Peter Green was an English guitarist and singer-songwriter. Green is credited with founding the popular British-American rock band, Fleetwood Mac. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1998. Named in Rolling Stone's 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time list, Green has influenced many other guitarists like Joe Perry and Gary Moore.

Zelda Fitzgerald was a painter, socialite, and novelist. Along with her husband Scott Fitzgerald, Zelda became a prominent personality of the Jazz Age. Renowned for her high spirits and beauty, she was named the first American flapper by Scott. For her work as a novelist and painter, Fitzgerald was posthumously made an inductee to the Alabama Women's Hall of Fame.

Model Bettie Page was an iconic figure in pop culture in the 1950s. Considered a sex symbol, she was most popular for her pin-up photos. In 1955, she became one of the earliest Playmates of the Month for Playboy magazine. After a short but immensely successful modeling career, she converted to Christianity and quit modeling.

Vaslav Nijinsky was a ballet dancer and choreographer. He is counted among the greatest male dancers of the early 20th century. He was known for the intensity of his characterizations. He was brilliant and could dance en pointe, a rare skill few male dancers of his era possessed. He suffered from mental health issues in his later life. 

Jake Lloyd is a former child actor best known for playing the young Anakin Skywalker in the film Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace. He retired from acting in 2001, later explaining that he quit acting due to harassment by the press and bullying at school. In 2020, it was stated that he is suffering from paranoid schizophrenia.

Cheyenne Brando was a French model and daughter of legendary American actor, Marlon Brando. Troubled by drug addiction and bouts of depression throughout her teenage and adult life, Cheyenne also struggled to cope with personal losses, such as the death of her partner Dag Drollet, who was fatally shot by her half-brother Christian. Brando committed suicide at age 25.

French sculptor Camille Claudel is also popularly known as legendary sculptor Auguste Rodin’s student, mistress, and muse. Claudel also contributed to many of Rodin’s masterpieces but never got any credit for it. After her relationship with Rodin soured, she became alienated and eventually died in an asylum.

William Chester Minor was an army surgeon and lexicographical researcher. He studied at Yale Medical School and earned a medical degree with a specialization in comparative anatomy. He then became an army surgeon. He was later committed to a London psychiatric hospital for many years as he suffered from paranoid delusions. He became a lexicographical researcher while incarcerated.  

Part of the Hashemite dynasty, Talal of Jordan reigned as the king of Jordan for a little over a year in the 1950s. The only son of Abdullah I, the first king of Jordan, he was forced to abdicate due to his mental illness. He died in a sanatorium in Istanbul.

German lyric poet and dramatist Friedrich Hölderlin was a significant figure of German Romanticism. Initially pushed to join a Christian ministry by his mother, he later ditched the idea and was inspired by Greek mythology. He later suffered from schizophrenia and spent 36 years in a tower, later named the Hölderlinturm.

Agnes Martin was an American painter whose style was often considered minimalism although she considered herself an abstract expressionist. Martin's work served as an inspiration to several younger artists like Ellen Gallagher and Eva Hesse. In 1998, Agnes Martin was honored with the prestigious National Medal of Arts. Her life and career inspired documentaries like Agnes Martin: Between the Lines.

One of the pioneers of expressionism in Sweden, Sigrid Hjertén was the only female member of the artist group De Åtta. Initially a teacher of textile design, she later painted iconic works such as Atelierinteriör. She died of a failed lobotomy procedure to cure her schizophrenia.

Following a 40-year stint with the German military, Karl Maria Wiligut retired to practice occult studies. He believed he belonged to a royal lineage and was later sent to an asylum for his schizophrenic beliefs. He later became a Nazi lieutenant-brigadier and joined Heinrich Himmler’s inner circle.

German-Austrian Franz Xaver Messerschmidt was a court sculptor in Vienna but was later forced to move to Pressburg, now Bratislava, where he worked on a series of over 60 heads, made of either tin alloy or alabaster. The heads have peculiar expressions, but their meaning hasn’t yet been unearthed.

Belgian poet and graphic artist Sophie Podolski is best known for her only published book during her lifetime, Le pays où tout est permis. A patient of schizophrenia, she had been to psychiatric clinics and had issues with drugs. She eventually tried committing suicide and died 10 days later.

Uuno Kailas was a Finnish writer, poet, and translator. He is often counted among the most important Finnish poets of the 1930s. He published an impressive collection of poetry and translations before succumbing to schizophrenia and tuberculosis at the age of 31.

Charmx is a Canadian comedian, gamer, animator, and former YouTuber. He is best known for his gaming and reaction videos. He came into prominence when he started posting a video series named YouTube Poops on his Charmx3 channel.