Ellen DeGeneres Shares Osteoporosis, OCD and ADHD Diagnoses

Ellen DeGeneres is getting more honest than ever before.

The comedian recently got candid about the mental and physical health journeys she’s undergone over the last few years, including a diagnosis of what she described as “full-on osteoporosis.”

“I don't even know how I'm standing up right now,” Ellen joked in her new Netflix special For Your Approval, which premiered Sept. 24. “I'm like a human sandcastle. I could disintegrate in the shower. It's hard to be honest about aging and seem cool.”

And in addition to osteoporosis, the 66-year-old also detailed learning she had arthritis.

“I had excruciating pain one day and I thought I tore a ligament or something and I got an MRI and they said, ‘No, it's just arthritis,’” she explained. “I said, ‘How did I get that?’ And he said, ‘Oh it just happens at your age.'”

But in addition to the physical ailments, Ellen also spoke to the mental health journey she’s undergone since The Ellen DeGeneres Show ended in 2022 amid toxic workplace allegations.

In her new special, Ellen details being diagnosed with OCD (also known as obsessive compulsive disorder, which according to the Mayo Clinic “features a pattern of unwanted thoughts and fears that lead you to do repetitive behaviors”) while undergoing therapy following her exit from the show.

“I may have OCD because a therapist said so and I said, ‘Yes I am very organized,’ because I thought that was the O,” she said. “I didn't know what OCD was. I was raised in a religion, Christian Science, that doesn't acknowledge diseases or disorders. So when I was growing up, nobody talked about anything. There was no discussion of anything.” 

Yet now, with new knowledge and understanding at her disposal, the talk show alum is recognizing certain behaviors.

“I look back now and I realize my dad for sure had OCD,” she remembered, noting the condition can be hereditary. “He would check the doorknob 15 times before we'd leave, he'd check the faucet 15 times, he would unplug all the appliances before we left the house because lightning could strike and it could catch fire.”

Ellen noted that when she broached the subject with her wife of 16 years Portia Di Rossi, the Arrested Development star immediately recognized the behaviors that align with the disorder. But Ellen joked that she’d always viewed her own behaviors as “careful” rather than obsessive.

The Ellen alum further spoke to her journey with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), which she refers to as ADD in the special.

“My ADD makes it really hard to sit down and focus on anything at all,” Ellen explained. “I mean, do you know how hard it was for me to put this together?”

She joked, “So, I have ADD, I have OCD, I'm losing my memory. But I think I'm well-adjusted because I obsess on things, but I don't have the attention span to stick with it, and I quickly forget what I was obsessing about in the first place.”