Theory: What yall think?

I think Lucille Ball (or at least her character on I Love Lucy- which was largely herself, from what I have read about her) was BP! Just think all those whacked out ideas and schemes: Mania. Crying at the drop of a hat: depressive.

Lucille lived in an era where being overly reactive to situations was not considered a bad thing. it was expected of the women, just being women, and men were the opposite. cold and cool, non reactive but able to control a situation when needed. It's what was learned and not looked down upon. Lucille always bounced back quick, never stayed in a depressive state for too long.

^^ This, except I think that Lucy was making fun of people who acted that way, not in a bad way necessarily. Like a satire. I think she was a brilliant comedian. But, it is possible she was BP. I mean us BP people tend to be very creative and talented folks. Just because that was expected at the time doesn't mean she didn't have BP.

But it is hard to say. Plus, it's true, she didn't behave depressed for long on the show. But we didn't know her in real life really. I mean, I would have never thought Owen Wilson would be so depressed as to attempt suicide, he's such a laid back, funny kind of guy, but I only know him on-screen.

I'm not sure but I loved that show as a kid and have seen every single episode at least 5 times! I've always thought she was the most beautiful woman to ever live and although her name is Lucille, I named my daughter Lucia (Lucy for short) because I have always loved that name. "Lucy" was such a big part of my childhood. Kind of pathetic really but still.

I've never read that she was considered to be bipolar in real life. However, her character certainly could be seen to manifest mania sometimes, as an aspect of humor.

We do know of some real-life actors/actresses who definitely come across as bipolar. Case in point: Robin Williams. He was often manic it seemed. He would make up his own lines in shows and just jump from one topic to another. My understanding is that he has been diagnosed by some folks as having it, perhaps even by professionals.

oh.. i thought we were evaluating her character!

That was more my thought, bc even if she had been diagnosed (her real-life self) back then- which would have been very unusual- the stigma of having a mental disorder would have been a career-smasher. We are blessed to live in an age when having something like BP doesn't make the average person brand you with a scarlet letter!

Her character may have been I think she was not but I dont know much about her accept about her hearing radio transmissions through her teeth. lol I loved that show though I used to watch it on the oldies channel when I was younger. lucy you got some splannin to do. lol

did you see the movie rat race with the bus full of ladies dressed up like lucy going to a convention? cuba gooding jr. was driving the bus until he crashed it. that was some funny ****!

I love that movie! I like when the Lucy's are chasing him down the road because he goes nuts. Haha.

My favorite episode of I Love Lucy was after they moved to that farm, and she hid all of those eggs in her shirt and they got smashed! I think I laughed for like 10 minutes. She was a genius.

I forgot about the "hearing radio transmissions in her teeth" thing.

I don't think there was a diagnosis of bipolar back in the days of Lucy. Even if she did have BP, she was pioneer and a strong woman. She went through some hard things in real life, I think. But they say you can't be great at comedy unless you've lived through tragedy.