Howie Mandel says his wife, Terry Mandel, eventually reached a point where living around his obsessive-compulsive disorder and intense fear of germs had become too much.
During the August 24 episode of Hoda Kotb's Joy 101 podcast, the 70-year-old comedian recalled Terry telling him she could not continue living that way unless he sought professional help. Her ultimatum eventually sent him to a psychiatrist, where Mandel was diagnosed with OCD in his 40s after experiencing symptoms since childhood.
He gave Kotb several examples of how extensively his rituals affected the household. Mandel said he built a separate ****** e in the backyard where he might stay for a week if one of their children sneezed, and he sometimes required family members to disinfect phones or other objects he considered contaminated.
The conversation also covered a separate crisis decades later. Mandel said his anxiety intensified dramatically during the COVID-19 pandemic and that he began self-medicating in an attempt to sleep and escape his thoughts, eventually reaching a point where Terry sometimes could not wake him.
Mandel told Kotb that his fear of germs is only one manifestation of the OCD symptoms and rituals he has dealt with for much of his life. Although germaphobia became part of his public persona and comedy, he described the reality of living with it in far harsher terms. "It's ****** ," he said.
#terry #living
During the August 24 episode of Hoda Kotb's Joy 101 podcast, the 70-year-old comedian recalled Terry telling him she could not continue living that way unless he sought professional help. Her ultimatum eventually sent him to a psychiatrist, where Mandel was diagnosed with OCD in his 40s after experiencing symptoms since childhood.
He gave Kotb several examples of how extensively his rituals affected the household. Mandel said he built a separate ****** e in the backyard where he might stay for a week if one of their children sneezed, and he sometimes required family members to disinfect phones or other objects he considered contaminated.
The conversation also covered a separate crisis decades later. Mandel said his anxiety intensified dramatically during the COVID-19 pandemic and that he began self-medicating in an attempt to sleep and escape his thoughts, eventually reaching a point where Terry sometimes could not wake him.
Mandel told Kotb that his fear of germs is only one manifestation of the OCD symptoms and rituals he has dealt with for much of his life. Although germaphobia became part of his public persona and comedy, he described the reality of living with it in far harsher terms. "It's ****** ," he said.
#terry #living
2 months ago
