We know that many celebrities often use their prestige to bring attention to their collaborations, new entertainment related works or advertisements for brands. But have you ever thought of celebrities vocalizing and sharing their personal struggle with illnesses, and how it affects public perception, awareness or understanding? Every day, millions of people deal with illness, but many conditions are still misunderstood or carry a stigma
. When celebrities talk openly about their diagnoses, they can reach a wide audience and help raise awareness about diseases that often go unnoticed. In recent years, many celebrity figures have shared personal health struggles, raising awareness about chronic and mental illnesses and reducing feelings of isolation among people facing similar diagnoses. Singer and actress Selena Gomez, for example, revealed in an interview that she had been diagnosed with lupus, a chronic autoimmune disease in which the immune system attacks healthy tissue. According to the Lupus Foundation of America, lupus affects approximately 1.5 million Americans and at least five million people worldwide. Have you ever heard of lupus/Lyme disease?
“Yea I heard of lupus from Selena Gomez. I don’t know much about it but I know she deals with it. There’s not much I know about lupus but I heard that people who have it most likely struggle a lot with it,” junior Anthony Jones said.
Gomez talked openly about her kidney transplant on the Today Show, explaining that the complications from her illness made it necessary.
By sharing her story with millions of followers, she shed a spotlight on a condition that’s unfamiliar to many.
Other celebrities have also used their public platforms to address personal health challenges. For instance, singer Justin Timberlake recently disclosed his diagnosis of Lyme disease, a bacterial infection transmitted to humans by ticks.
Timberlake explained that his decision to speak publicly about the diagnosis was intended to clarify the challenges he had been experiencing privately, rather than to elicit sympathy. “Not so you feel bad for me, but to shed some light on what I’ve been up against behind the scenes,” Timberlake said in a public statement.
Celebrity disclosures can also highlight unfamiliar medical conditions. Actress Catherine O’Hara previously shared that she lived with dextrocardia with situs inversus, a rare genetic condition in which the heart and other organs are positioned on the opposite side of the body. Public discussions of rare conditions like this can help people better understand the variety of human health. But, how does that help inform people about this condition? How does it help change people’s perceptions of this topic?
“ It shows that anybody could have this condition, like any celebrity whether they are known or unknown. I don’t think it’s good that that celebrity has that condition, but I think it could be good if the celebrity is known and could bring awareness to that condition,” junior Annie Doan said.
While celebrity stories often generate awareness, research suggests they may not always be the most effective way to reduce stigma. In a study by Corrigan PW, Kundert C, & Laique A (2022), Fame, Disclosure and Stigma Change The study aimed to explore whether celebrity mental health disclosures reduce public stigma more effectively than similar disclosures from non-celebrities.
The results showed that participants perceived non-celebrities as more similar and likable than celebrities. As a result, reading the non-celebrity description led to a greater reduction in reported stigma than did reading the celebrity description. Overall, the study suggests that disclosures by non-celebrities may be more effective at reducing stigma, whereas celebrity disclosures primarily increase awareness.
Being famous doesn’t necessarily make a disclosure more effective for reducing stigma. Identifying interpersonal similarities in others’ descriptions is a key factor in reducing stigma. However, being famous may be more effective in raising public awareness and potentially prompting initial conversations about the topic.