Jennifer Lewis Reveals That She Battled Bipolar Disorder & Sex Addiction 

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Jennifer Lewis Reveals That She Battled Bipolar Disorder & Sex Addiction

“Black-ish” actress/matriarchal figure player Jennifer Lewis is revealing some surprising info about her personal life. The 60-year-old star is revealing her unknown mental illnesses in her new book The Mother of Black Hollywood, excerpted exclusively in the current issue of PEOPLE Magazine.

In it, she sasys she first noticed she had a problem with sex addiction which she called a “painkiller” after performing on Broadway in her 20s. According to her it extended the thrill after her performances.

“Performing on Broadway was a rush,” she writes. “The applause coming over the footlights was like a tsunami in slow motion. The crash after the show, I assure you, is just as intense. Let’s just say that post show I had a sort of habit of sex serving as a night cap. I was Cleopatra, Pam Grier, Marilyn Monroe, and Jezebel rolled into one. For me, nothing could extend the thrill of a standing ovation like great sex with a gorgeous guy.”

She also added that she just thought she was “crazy”, not mentally ill, until she talked to a psychiatrist who told her that she was bipolar.

“Had she said, ‘you’re crazy,’ I would have agreed. I had been crazy all my life,” she writes. “When she said, ‘mental illness,’ I thought, ‘b—-, you crazy.’ I associated mental illness with people who couldn’t function, with straitjackets. I certainly knew what a depressive mood was, but this other ‘manic’ part was new. When Rachel explained the details, I gasped. You mean, there is a name for describing why I talk fast and walk fast and rage, create drama, and speed when I drive a car? Compulsive, you say? The doodling, the braiding and unbraiding my hair? The arguing with people and storming off ? Kicking s—, throwing s—? Yeah, okay, I guess all of that describes me.”

Jennifer told the publication that she has “peace of mind” now and hopes her story helps stop the “stigma, fear, and just plain ignorance about mental illness, particularly among African Americans.”

How brave of her to share that story.

Would you ever imagine that Jennifer Lewis battled sex addiction and bipolar disorder???