Aging may be universal, but Ellen DeGeneres is making headlines for the way she’s talking about it.
The longtime comedian, now 66, used her final stand-up special on Netflix, For Your Approval, to disclose a series of medical diagnoses she received after stepping away from daytime television. DeGeneres told viewers she’s now been diagnosed with osteoporosis, arthritis, OCD and ADHD—conditions she says she didn’t even know she had until her life slowed down following the end of The Ellen DeGeneres Show.
DeGeneres explained that the diagnoses came only after she left her talk-show empire in 2020, during the media firestorm over accusations claiming she fostered a “toxic” workplace environment. With the cameras off and time on her hands, she finally went to her doctors—and the results, she says, were eye-opening.
The former talk-show host said she learned she has “full-blown osteoporosis,” a condition that weakens the bones and increases the risk of fractures. She told the audience she discovered it after going through what she described as a “silly bone density test.”
“Honestly, I don’t even know how I’m upright right now,” she joked to the crowd. “I’m basically a sandcastle with legs. One strong shower and I might dissolve.”
As if that weren’t enough, doctors also informed her she has arthritis. DeGeneres recalled experiencing an intense, sudden pain and thinking she’d seriously injured herself. Instead, doctors told her it was simply age catching up.
“I asked how I ended up with arthritis, and the doctor just said, ‘It happens at your age,’” she remarked, drawing laughs at her own expense.
DeGeneres admitted that being candid about aging is tough in an industry obsessed with image. “It’s hard to be real about getting older and still seem cool,” she told viewers.
But her physical health wasn’t the only subject she tackled. DeGeneres also revealed she was diagnosed with obsessive-compulsive disorder and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder while she was in therapy, trying to process the intense backlash that engulfed her during the controversy surrounding her show.
She said she had been in therapy, trying to cope with the overwhelming hate directed at her. “It wasn’t exactly a typical case for a therapist.”
She admitted that when her therapist first mentioned OCD, she misunderstood the diagnosis. “I told her I was very organized and thought that was the ‘O,’” she mentioned. “I had no idea what OCD actually meant.”
DeGeneres explained that her religious upbringing—she was raised in Christian Science—meant her family rarely discussed illness or mental health. Looking back, she now realizes her father likely had OCD as well. “He checked everything—door locks, faucets, appliances—over and over. They say it can run in families.”
After her therapist raised the possibility of OCD, DeGeneres asked her wife, Portia de Rossi, if she thought it was true. De Rossi didn’t hesitate: “Yes, you do.”
As always, DeGeneres used humor to cushion the revelations. She joked that her ADHD makes it nearly impossible to sit still long enough to assemble a full comedy special.
“My ADD makes focusing a nightmare,” she quipped. “You have no idea how rough it was for me to put this show together. Actually, you wouldn’t know that. Why would I even ask that?”
She ended the segment by joking that her mix of OCD, ADHD and memory lapses might actually balance out. “I’m obsessive, but I’m also easily distracted and forget what I’m obsessing about,” she said. “So in a weird way, it all cancels out—and I come out pretty well-adjusted.”
Sources: New York Post
