Anyone can find it difficult to handle the stress of day-to-day life and end up dealing with anxiety. It can affect the poor, the young, the sick, the old, and more. Many people think that only the poor can develop anxiety, but that is not true, especially considering the fact that a number of famous people have spent years dealing with anxiety disorders. 

Famous People with Anxiety

1. Jennifer Lawrence

Jennifer Lawrence has always been quite open about her battle with anxiety. She was just a teen when she started experiencing the symptoms of anxiety disorder. Like most people, she was not aware of what it was. Finally, she went to a therapist and started taking prescription medication. The combination of medication and therapy really helped her deal with the stress of being a celebrity.

2. Lena Dunham

Lena Dunham first talked about her anxiety disorder in 2014. She explained that things were not in perfect shape up there in her head. Through her character Hannah Horvath, she also showed people how it feels like to live with an obsessive-compulsive disorder. Now she still sees the therapist and is on prescription medication, but she also talks a lot about how exercise has helped her take control of her life.

3. Emma Stone

As an academy award-nominated actress, she has already shared her bad luck in the past. She has admitted that she has been dealing with anxiety and panic attacks since childhood. While talking about her experience, she said her first panic attack was at her friend's house and she felt as if the house was burning down. She continued experiencing the effects for a long time, and acting really helped her get over her feelings of anxiety. She says acting keeps her mind occupied and does not let her think too much about things that make her anxious. She also gave suggestions to people who are struggling with anxiety: Be mindful and live in the moment.

4. David Beckham

On the list of famous people with anxiety, there are more women as compared to men, and that is mainly because women are 60% more likely to develop an anxiety disorder than men. Still, there are some big names to include in the list and soccer star David Beckham is one of them. He has accepted it in the past that he has obsessive-compulsive disorder and often sticks to ritualistic, repetitive behaviors involving cleanliness or sorting. He finds it extremely annoying and irritating when everything is not perfect. He says it is not easy to diagnose the disorder and then accept that you really need treatment.

5. Whoopi Goldberg

The View co-host Whoopi Goldberg has been dealing with anxiety for so many years. She found it extremely difficult to convince herself to travel by air. She opened up about her fear of flying in 2011. She says she avoided flying for as many as 30 years after she witnessed a mid-air collision on her hotel's balcony. She preferred train or bus for cross-country traveling, but then she started receiving therapy to treat her phobia. It really helped her and though she still feels anxious, she has started flying now.

6. Adele

You may find her look perfectly normal and natural on stage even when she was suffering from anxiety attacks. She told Rolling Stone about her problem that she thought was due to her demanding performance schedule. She was scared of audiences, and she has actually thrown up a couple of times before her performance. Finally, Beyonce helped her understand her problem and develop her own alter ego to get through her anxiety attacks.

7. Oprah Winfrey

Yes, she is also on the list of famous people with anxiety, and it shows you are not immune to anxiety even when you are the Queen of All Things Media. In 2012, she opened up about her experience with her anxiety disorder and the way she felt during panic attacks. She first started experiencing a kind of numbness while doing things, and it was so severe that she had to tell herself to slow down to avoid over-stimulating her brain. It was difficult but she really managed things well.

8. Chris Evans

He has talked a lot about his battle with anxiety disorder in several interviews. He still finds it difficult to be a public figure without experiencing the pressure that comes with it. He says he always finds himself feeling anxious when he is promoting his films. He finally went to a therapist and started receiving treatment. He says you really feel better when you know you can talk about exactly what you feel deep inside your heart.

9. Donny Osmond

Sometimes, the biggest issue you face when trying to overcome your anxiety is to avoid stressful triggers, and the same happened with Donny Osmond who ended up dealing with a severe anxiety disorder. He would go in his room and curl up into the fetal position whenever a panic attack hit him. He would spend hours thinking about how his failures would affect his family and his career. Eventually, he decided to talk to a professional and started taking medications to control his symptoms and anxiety attacks.

10. Howie Madel

Howie Madel is another famous people with anxiety. It was in 2009 when Madel revealed that he suffered from obsessive-compulsive disorder for quite some time. In fact, he still has a deep fear of germs. Since he has to travel constantly, he always keeps a magnifying glass and a black light with him to inspect hotel rooms for germs and bedbugs. He also takes private planes instead of commercial flights to avoid becoming infected. The combination of psychotherapy and medications has helped him manage his condition.