Weird stuffactor David Harbor has revealed that he was hospitalized for his bipolar disorder in his mid-20s.
“I was diagnosed with bipolar at 26 after an episode that landed me in an institution,” the actor explained.
“I have struggled with the medical model of mental illness for a long time. I really started going into talk therapy around the specific trauma, and I find that stories and stories, dealing with personal trauma intellectually and emotionally, are much more liberating to me than hospitals and medicine.”
Speak with The big problemHarbor added: “I’ve definitely been in and out of the system. And there were times in my life where it was very easy for me to get out on the streets, but luckily I had a family who could support me through those lean and very difficult times.”
The 47-year-old, who plays Hopper in the hit Netflix series, explained that there is a “social component” to mental illness.
“It’s not like a broken leg. What defines crazy is social impropriety. But in a way it’s very socially inappropriate not to have enough money to live on,” he said.
Being mentally ill is a natural state of poverty. “If you can’t participate in society by buying lunch and going into a store and stuff, you go crazy. It’s chicken and egg. They go hand in hand.”
That said the American actor, who married British singer Lily Allen in 2020, Weird stuff he struggled to make ends meet with his regular acting gigs.
“A month after I was 40, it hit really hard. I remember going in and I was very upset because I was still in this place where I had no money, I was worried about how I would pay my rent,” he explained.
From landing his roll on Weird stuffthe actor said he thought it was going to be a show he’d love but no one would watch.
“It was unlike anything I’ve ever experienced in my career. One by one, I started getting tons of text messages saying, “Weird stuff is great, I love this show’,” he explained.
“I’ve never experienced that before or since. It was truly a magical moment. The reviews and numbers hadn’t come in yet, but I knew at that moment that it was something special that really touched people.”
You can read the full interview with David Harbor in The Big Issue, available from suppliers or: through an online subscription†
