Renowned actor and comedian Eddie Murphy has shared insights into his battle with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD).
Murphy, known for his on-stage impersonation of the legendary James Brown, opened up about a particular habit from his past that was a sign of a deeper issue.
The 64-year-old star discussed his struggles with this challenging mental health condition in the new documentary Being Eddie, where he recounted his first realization of having OCD during his childhood.
Obsessive Compulsive Disorder is a frequently misunderstood mental health issue characterized by compulsions to repeat certain actions and the experience of persistent unwanted thoughts, leading to significant distress.
Individuals often engage in compulsive behaviors as a means of alleviating the distress caused by these intrusive thoughts.
In his Netflix film, Murphy revealed a particular habit he didn’t initially recognize as a symptom of OCD.
“I used to have that OCD when I was a kid. I didn’t know what it was. I would go and check the stove in the kitchen and make sure all the gas was off in the kitchen,” he explained.
“And I’d lay down for about, you know, five minutes, and I would get back up and go back in the kitchen and look at the stove again and check all the gas, and then I’d go back in the bed and lay there for about five, 10 minutes and then get back up and go look at it and look at the stove and make sure all the gas was off.
“Then go back to bed, lay there for another 10 minutes and get back – and this went on for maybe like an hour. And I did that every night.”
Murphy mentioned that no one had realized this behavior might be indicative of a larger issue.
“Every night. And I’d just say, ‘That’s just some weird s**t that I do’,” he shared. “My mother, nobody knew this was going on.”
It was only upon watching a news segment about OCD that Murphy recognized the symptoms being discussed were similar to his own experiences.
He recalled: “It was like, ‘Oh, that’s what I – I be doing s**t like that’. I said, ‘Oh’. I was like, ‘Oh, mental illness?’… And when I saw that it was like some mental illness s**t, I made myself stop doing it.
“I was like, ‘I’m not – I’m not doing it no more. I thought I was weird. I ain’t know I had some mental illness. F**k that. I ain’t have no mental illness. Mental illness, my ass’. And I forced myself to stop doing it.”