Famous People With Epilepsy From Music, Film, and History

Epilepsy is more common than most people would think. In fact, if you look into any field you will almost always find people who have epilepsy, even amongst the famous. Epilepsy has affected people for millennia so it’s not surprising to find out that many of the most famous people throughout history had epilepsy. Similarly, if we look to more modern celebrities from music, film, tv or sports, there are many notable examples who have epilepsy.   

Musicians

Lil Wayne 

Rapper Lil Wayne first went public about his epilepsy back in 2013 after a series of seizures hospitalised him. He’s since spoken openly about life with epilepsy in a number of media interviews. 

Neil Young

Having developed epilepsy during adulthood, Neil Young has been very outspoken about living life with epilepsy. In his memoir, he described a seizure as though “you slip into some other world”.

Susan Boyle

The singer has spoken multiple times about how she had epilepsy as a child and would frequently have seizures at school that left her unconscious. 

Elton John

Detailed in the biopic, Rocketman, Elton John developed epilepsy as a young man, potentially due to his rock and roll lifestyle and prolonged drug use. 

Ian Curtis

The Joy Division front man was known to have frequent seizures, which are believed to have been a factor in him sadly taking his own life in 1980. 

Film and TV

Hugo Weaving

The Matrix and Lord of the Rings star had his first seizure as a teenager at the age of 13 and continued to have them until he was 40 when he says they just stopped. 

Rik Mayall

After a serious quad bike accident in 1998, actor Mayall was left with epilepsy for which he had to take anti-seizure medications for the rest of his life. 

Martin Kemp

Singer and actor, Martin Kemp has lived with epilepsy since he underwent brain surgery in 1995 and has since been an advocate for raising awareness using his celebrity profile. 

Cameron Boyce

Disney star Cameron Boyce sadly died in his sleep through SUDEP. He had his first seizure at the age of 16 and only had 5 seizures recorded, each of which were in his sleep. 

Richard Burton

Due to a fear of doctors, Burton was never actually diagnosed with epilepsy. However, it’s widely reported that he had seizures throughout his adult life. 

Historic Figures

Theodore Roosevelt

The 26th President of the United States was known to have had frequent epilepstic seizures, something he had dealt with throughout his life. 

Napoleon

Historians have deduced that French General, Napoleon had frequent epileptic seizures. Evidence suggests he developed epilepsy after contracting gonorrhoea which went untreated.  

Joan of Arc

Although nothing can be certain, analysis of Joan of Arc’s testimony concluded that she likely had epilepsy causing her to experience frequent episodes of auditory hallucinations.

Sir Isaac Newton

English physicist, Sir Isaac Newton, was widely known to have been amongst the genius historical figures who battled with epilepsy. 

Charles Dickens

Author, Charles Dickens, was known to write about epilepsy within his novels and journalism, having lived with it himself.