Famous People With Attention Deficit and Learning Disorders
With perserverance, they made it.... so can you.

Although, not all these famous people have been "officially diagnosed," they have exhibited many of the signsof ADD, AD/HD & LD.
The point of this list is to inspire those of us who have similar challenges. We thank the Kitty PettyADD/LD Institute for this valuable contribution.


Albert Einstein
Galileo
Mozart
Wright Brothers
Leonardo da Vinci
Cher
Bruce Jenner
Tom Cruise
Charles Schwab
Henry Winkler
Danny Glover
Walt Disney
John Lennon
Greg Louganis
Winston Churchill
Henry Ford
Stephen Hawkings
Jules Verne
Alexander Graham Bell
Woodrow Wilson
Hans Christian Anderson
Nelson Rockefeller
Thomas Edison
Gen. George Patton
Agatha Christie
John F. Kennedy
Whoopi Goldberg
Rodin
Thomas Thoreau
David H. Murdock
Dustin Hoffman
Pete Rose
Russell White
Jason Kidd
Russell Varian
Robin Williams
Louis Pasteur
Werner von Braun
Dwight D. Eisenhower
Robert Kennedy
Luci Baines Johnson Nugent
George Bush's children
Prince Charles
Gen. Westmoreland
Eddie Rickenbacker
Gregory Boyington
Harry Belafonte
F. Scott Fitzgerald
Mariel Hemingway
Steve McQueen
George C. Scott
Tom Smothers
Suzanne Somers
Lindsay Wagner
George Bernard Shaw
Beethoven
Carl Lewis
Jackie Stewart
"Magic" Johnson
Weyerhauser family
Wrigley
John Corcoran
Sylvester Stallone

Lindsay, thanks for posting this!  It's nice to know we're in such good company!  (Mozart, Einstein ... Kewl!!)

Hi I believe my husband has ADHD but he is in denial. He can't hold a job, because he is twice as slow as the normal worker. He has projects started all over the house and outside and never gets to them. He works hard and i can see he is trying. His family all thinks it is because he used to smoke marijuana. He is 48 years old and feeling desperate and low about hisself. How do i convince him he needs psychological help? He is very intelligent but his work habits is going to get him fired from his last job. He last maybe up to a year. He has had this one for about 4 months and got a big write up about how slow and ineffecient he is. He tries for perfection also and this takes up way too much work time. HELP., I have social anxiety really bad and just got on paxil a couple of days ago. I need to help my husband get better and feel better about hisself.

Isn't it interesting that there are a lot more males than females that are listed?

I missed out on so many good grades in school because it wasn't known then.

Now, I realize the reasons why I knew I was smart but I would have to study alone, or without zero distractions.

Thank you Lindsay.

skychick

They probably got sick of whatever is happening in their life and blocked everything out or in some cases substance abuse.

Add Anthony Fokker (Dutch aircraft engineer prior to WWII and designer of the (in)famous Red Baron's Fokker Triplane.)

Wow

Wow is right....looks like some great minds have had to deal with ADD

interesting, thanks for posting this

Agreed, very interesting. Could you go a bit further and tell us which ones have been officially diagnosed?
Good post

Hi all,
I hate to be the negative to all of this, and I do mean all of this, but this only irritates me. It doesn't make me feel one ounce of better.
1st) I am a female. I have had this all of my life, and I am 55. I can remember behaviors and things I did as far back as the 2nd grade that were classic signs of ADHD, but of course back then, this was unheard of.

I have been told by several of my docs from over my many years, that I have a severe case of ADHD. And I have yet to meet anyone worse. To me, every single name on that list, IF they do have ADHD, that fact alone disqualifies them. To me, I get angry at the folks who say, "Oh gee, I wonder if I have this cause I do xxxx now & then." Give me a break. I suffer from Chronic Severe Untreatable depression also. Which came 1st? Beats me.

This ADHD ruined my life from the beginning. I do not have an attention span longer than that of a flea's. My childhood was a nightmare. I was thought to be bona fide insane as there was no other explanation. I can't sit still long enough, or shut my mouth long enough or not do some stupid embarrassing thing in order to be successful at anything in life, let alone school. In my book, any person who can graduate from school, hold a job or a position for a great length of time and even move up and up, or have grown up in the best of the best of families, or have the fortune of being wealthy enough to buy their way into any circle they want, they don't even count. They do a disservice to those of us who genuinely suffer. For all the people who think that ADHD is crap, or it's a joke, or look at all the fun things they can do because they have it, it is people like them who make my life much more difficult by virtue of having to explain myself or even be viewed still as being insane. I am an intelligent person, despite not being able to finish even high school. Just this week, I FINALLY broke down and threw in the towel and began filing for disability income. This is because I am not able to hold a job. I can get them easily enough, I look fine, I present well, I prove my abilities, but all of the crap that IS me, sabotages my every "new 1st day" of my life. So I am finally giving up as the depression hole gets bigger every day when I realize how disabled and debilitated I am, because of all of the trials & tribulations with ADHD.

I really am of no sympathy for those who like to brag that they may have it, as if it is fun. Put yourself in a psych hospital a few times, for the antics of this disorder and see how fun it is. Lose friends as they have no patience for your nonsense from this, lose jobs because employers don't have to put up with your crap. Don't know what I'm talking about? That is because you don't have ADHD severe enough to even blame it for anything! Come hang around me for 6 weeks and you'll have figured it out. My precious daughter has inherited this from me, and her life is as much of a disaster as mine. Had I known at 26 that I would give this to her, she may not be here to be as miserable as I am.
I'm sorry if this sounds mean, but you can't imagine a day in my shoes. And neither can a single person on your list.
And btw - I think you forgot Jim Carrey. But I can't remember as I don't have the patience to read that long of a list.
Always Trying

This post has been edited by Always Trying: Mar 26 2008, 11:46 PM

Dont forget Ty Pennington from extreme makeover home edition!