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What was Vivian Vance's actual diagnosis?

In an effort to combine some perennial favorite DL topics ... let's speculate on Viv's mental health diagnosis.

All I've ever read is that she was in therapy for many years after a nervous breakdown, that she suffered an attack mid-performance, that she stopped performing and despaired of ever appearing onstage again, and that she eventually recovered. Her personal life, which included four marriages, was also somewhat chaotic.

But I have never heard an actual diagnosis.

Generalized anxiety? Garden-variety depression? A personality disorder? Go-blootistis?

What say you, DL?

by Anonymousreply 15July 28, 2021 8:06 PM

Bump!

by Anonymousreply 1July 22, 2021 9:46 PM

Terminal sidekickitis

by Anonymousreply 2July 22, 2021 9:49 PM

I wonder if this is addressed in Being the Ricardos

by Anonymousreply 3July 22, 2021 10:08 PM

Maybe she had PTSD from wearing blue jeans on the subway.

by Anonymousreply 4July 23, 2021 9:40 PM

Way back then? She was probably diagnosed with "nervous complaints" and prescribed a mustard plaster.

by Anonymousreply 5July 23, 2021 9:51 PM

Lol r5 ... true

by Anonymousreply 6July 28, 2021 5:24 PM

She had a penchant for attracting GAY husbands. 'Nuff said.

by Anonymousreply 7July 28, 2021 5:27 PM

I thought only the last one way gay, r7

by Anonymousreply 8July 28, 2021 5:29 PM

Highly excitable female. Womanly problems. Hysterical female, highly strung.

by Anonymousreply 9July 28, 2021 5:30 PM

Agnes de Mille was a cvnt to her during Carousel and eventually had her fired. This was probably difficult for Viv to accept because the role she was playing required very little interaction with de Mille as it’s not a singing or dancing role and other than the opening tableaux only had two short scenes. That may have been the start of her insecurities.

by Anonymousreply 10July 28, 2021 5:38 PM

Wasn't Valium the go-to drug for desperate housewives back then?

by Anonymousreply 11July 28, 2021 5:46 PM

Diazepam wasn't patented until 1959, r11. This was in the 1930s-1950s

by Anonymousreply 12July 28, 2021 6:35 PM

"What was Vivian Vance's actual diagnosis? "

Chronic second-fiddle-ness

by Anonymousreply 13July 28, 2021 7:31 PM

go-bloots

by Anonymousreply 14July 28, 2021 8:01 PM

She was diagnosed with depression and discussed it openly as part of her work to help those suffering with mental health issues. Whether her diagnosis would be different now is anyone's guess.

by Anonymousreply 15July 28, 2021 8:06 PM
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