“SNL” star Pete Davidson has been diagnosed with borderline personality disorder
Pete Davidson of Saturday Night Live has had his fair share of struggles. His father died while serving as a firefighter on September 11th, he has Crohn’s disease, and he has struggled with a dependency on marijuana. Now, on Marc Maron’s “WTF” podcast, Davidson stated he has borderline personality disorder. And it’s the first time that Davidson has opened up about his diagnosis.
Davidson will be in the upcoming season of SNL, which premieres on September 30th, and he joined Maron on his podcast to talk about his personal life, career, and mental health struggles. The 23-year-old said he’s “depressed all the time,” but since he has been diagnosed with borderline personality disorder (BPD), his mental health is improving through therapy.
Today is Pete Davidson day on https://t.co/KBRiPQLutw! Heavy, real, funny talk! Great! Do it up! pic.twitter.com/5VPfJYCRBD
— WTF with Marc Maron (@WTFpod) September 25, 2017
As he recalled to Maron, around September or October 2016, Davidson said he had “mental breakdowns, where I would freak out,” and he wouldn’t remember what happened after. He went to rehab, thinking it was his marijuana use since he had been smoking weed consistently for eight years. But even after he got clean, he still felt the same way until he was finally diagnosed with BPD.
'Saturday Night Live' cast member Pete Davidson opens up about mental health struggles https://t.co/7qDhEhn1EI
— TIME (@TIME) September 26, 2017
As Maron noted, BPD is tough to diagnose and, according to the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), BPD is “a serious mental disorder marked by a pattern of ongoing instability in moods, behavior, self-image, and functioning.”
Davidson’s doctors believe the sudden loss of his father led to this disorder.
Borderline personality disorder (BPD) is a serious mental disorder. Learn about the signs & symptoms: https://t.co/UJZN82KEKc #BPDawareness pic.twitter.com/44tKDxtlAm
— Mental Health NIMH (@NIMHgov) May 4, 2017
To help him cope with his diagnosis, Davidson is participating in dialectical behavior therapy (DBT). About the therapy, Davidson said:
"It is working, slowly but surely. I've been having a lot of problems. This whole year has been a fucking nightmare. This has been the worst year of my life, getting diagnosed with this and trying to figure out how to learn with this and live with this."
He said therapy is hard work and, at times, “lame,” but that his mental health is “getting better, but it’s taking awhile.”
His honesty about the subject and the difficulties he has experienced may be able to help others dealing with similar mental health struggles. And his story proves how important it is to seek help for your mental wellbeing. Because even though this diagnosis is hard to live with, Pete emphasizes that “when you find out something is actually wrong, it’s very reassuring.”
We wish Davidson all the best, and are glad to know that he’s getting the help he needs.
