Famous Obsessive-Compulsive Celebrities

Obsessive compulsive behavior in celebrities is nothing new– we all know the famous OCD freaks in history (e.g. Howard Hughes). But its both surprising and — in a way — heartening to know that people who have achieved great things in their public careers have the same problems us mortals do. Here’s a short list of famous OCD-ers:

• Howard Hughes — the legendary and eccentric aviator/engineer, industrialist and entertainment mogul. He was memorably depicted in the file “The Aviator” as obsessed with cleanliness and hand-washing.
• Alec Baldwin — he announced on an episode of the Conan O’Brian show that he suffers from the urge to move and organize objects in his home — a classic OCD.
• David Beckham — the hunky English soccer player is compelled to arrange his personal objects in pairs and straight lines. He gets antsy when his “football blokes” goof on his compulsions by messing with his routine.
• Joey Ramone — the late singer of the punk-rock band The Ramones memorialized his decades-long battle with OCD in the song “Like A Drug I Never Did Before“.
• David Sedaris — The American writer and humorist was obsessed in his childhood with licking various objects in his daily life, whether light switches (!) or mailboxes on his walk home from school. He claims that taking up cigarette smoking cured his habit…
• Howard Stern — revealed in his book Miss America — as well as several times on his radio program — that he suffered from a germ phobia, which caused him to obsessively clean his hands.
• Nikola Tesla — a Serbian inventor and electrical engineer was obsessed with (of all things!) the number three.

OCD is truly a disease that strikes the lowly and the powerful without discrimination.