Histrionic Personality Disorder: starving for attention

I think Trump has Narcissistic Personality Disorder, not Histrionic

Nancy Mace

R2 - yes!!!

Many actors are histrionic.

Especially those in the theater.

A bunch of drama queens!

Maybe…our gal?

Symptoms

A person with histrionic personality disorder seeks attention, talks dramatically with strong opinions, is easily influenced, has rapidly changing emotions, and thinks relationships are closer than they are.

Behavioral: preoccupation with physical appearance, seeks to be the center of attention, or talks dramatically.

Psychological: considers relationships closer than they are, easily influenced by others, or depression.

Also common: inappropriately sexual or provocative behavior or rapid shifts in emotion.

Nancy Mace all the way

Professional victims on TikTok.

Brendad wins this thread.

Kathy Griffin

Valerie Bertinelli (as referenced above)

Darren Criss

Patti Lupone!

Marjorie Taylor Greene

Jennifer Lopez.

Hilaria Baldwin.

And Alec Baldwin

Sherry Papini

R17 gave the best answer so far

Hilaria Baldwin definitely fits this to a T.

Based on R6, most of them.

Michael Barnett of Natalia Grace fame

Several Real Housewives

Bethenny (dread spelling!) Frankel.

Sherri Papini

George Santos

My mother

Sharon Stone

Not really "famous", but Michael Barnett (Natalia Grace's adoptive father) is about the most textbook example I've ever seen.

Anna Nicole Smith

HPD is actually the rarest personality disorder, so it's likely many of the celebrities we associate with it are just plain old narcissists. Histrionics are like caricatures. They're not even able to fake depth, and they have no desire to mask, mirror, or machinate like classic narcissists do. They make for great reality TV.

Blanche Dubois is the most famous fictionalized version of HPD.

^*fictionalized characterization

Nadya Suleman, Octomom

Thank you, R29.

Shannon Storms Beador

I don't claim to possess the ability to understand the nuanced differences between NPD and HPD, but over the years Madonna has been pegged as Histrionic. She's for sure 1000% a narcissist. Where does one end and the other begin?

Marilyn Monroe. Definitely Histrionic, most certainly Borderline as well. And CPTSD. Really dire stuff. I don't say it lightly and I don't posit this to put her down or write her off. Her childhood was abominable.

It's funny people mention Sherri Papini because when I was watching one of the documentaries with her I had the passing thought that her mannerisms and expressions reminded me of Megan Markle who I also think is HPD.

Rescue, I was going to say Meghan Markle, but I think she already gets too much attention so I deferred. But I think you are right.

R34 Wrong about both. Madonna has deep emotional issues, though. Histrionics crave attention all the time. Madonna goes dark for long periods of time, doesn’t go to hardly any award shows or talk shows. There are 99 million things she could do for huge attention but she doesn’t. JLO fits this to a MFing T. She is constantly in the spotlight nonstop. THAT’S narcissism and histrionic behavior.

Nicole Kidman

Jennifer Aniston. I'm sick of her "exclusives" on People and US Weekly detailing how miserable is her love life.

I can see the difference, R38. However, Madonna is a decade older than JLO and so you can't do an exact 1:1 comparison. Some of Madonna's supposed histrionic/narc behavior could be attributed to her being a performer with ambition, youthful drive and sass. However, her need for attention is insatiable, and she has consistently used sexuality to stay in the spotlight, to this very day. I don't think that Instagram has been her friend, and I'm sorry but what is not H or NPD about a 60-something year old relentlessly thrusting her sexuality at the world on Instagram?

Having said all of that, I don't think Madonna "fakes depth." But "easily influenced and changeable" - yes.

I will say, I think Madonna would trade it all in to have been able to have her mother in her life growing up. The pain of that early loss has been her constant companion throughout her life, and I have a ton of empathy for her for that.

R40 I don't think Aniston is prodding People and Us Weekly to churn out those stupid pieces. Trust. She hates all of it. She's extremely private, grounded, loving, well-loved and discreet.

Just a quick hi from your [bold] Woman of the Year [/bold].!!!..Now if you don't mind I'm going to the WOMENS restroom to piss off straights and vilify the Gay Community!! Tee Hee!!!

R14, the description at R6 could fit Ben, as well.

I cannot even begin to imagine TWO histrionics in a romantic relationship.

People are just listing celebs they don't like.

(OMG, Dylan Mulvaney laughed!)

R41 But Madonna doesn’t seek a huge spotlight and she could. SM has EVERYONE constantly posting provocative stuff. That would make 90% of people H or N. So her SM behavior is on par with others. Madonna only did those things when she had a project, yet she went dark for long periods after 1992. Her need for attention is directly tied to her emotional trauma from not only losing her mother, but tons of important people in her life. The Mary Gabriel book explains her so thoroughly you only need the first 9 chapters to completely understand her. And you’ll see she’s not H or N. Her and JLO are comparable- JLO has been relentlessly in the spotlight in high profile events nonstop her entire career.. Madonna hasn’t come close even in her biggest eras- hardly any award shows, talk shows.

I’m not defending Madonna because I’m a fan, I am, but I truly want true examples of this behavior. It fascinates me. JLO, Nancy Mace, Trump, even possibly Kidman because she is doing project after project after project. She’s never NOT in the public eye.

Histrionic personality disorder often pathologizes stereotypically feminine behavior.

R45 Yes. J-LO is absolutely Histrionic and Narcissistic. There isn’t one event she won’t show up to.

R47, straighten out your reasoning, unless you've intended to sound like the Delphic Oracle.

HPD does not make a pathology of anything, including those symptoms presented in context that diagnose HPD. It describes a psychiatric disorder.

And one wonders what your mother was like if you think histrionic personality disorder equates with whatever you consider to be stereotypically "feminine" behavior.

NPD and HPD are nothing alike. HPD is a rare bird…you’d never forget if you spent five minutes with one. For a more lifelike representation, check some YouTube videos.

Ratboy Chalamet

Michael Obama

Viola Davis

A few more reality tv z-listers who come to mind: Darcey Silva, Josh Seiter, Tila Tequila (is she still alive?)

Chris Crocker/Cara Cunningham

[quote]Her need for attention is directly tied to her emotional trauma from not only losing her mother, but tons of important people in her life.

Friend, every personality-disordered person's need for attention is directly tied to emotional trauma, except in the very small percentage of people who are hardwired from birth as a psychopath. And even then, it's suss because usually one of the parents was personality-disordered, so the line between nature and nuture is never straight.

How else do you think HPD and NPD folks come to be? You think they all pop out of their mother's womb taking selfies? No. They have experienced trauma. They were abandoned, ignored, neglected, abused, derided, invalidated, minimized, shamed, sexually violated, or mocked.

It's adorable that you think calling someone HPD or NPD is a slur, and not a psychological designation of an internal state fired in the forge of trauma. It's funny you think because you understand Madonna's trauma that it invalidates her personality disorders. But because you don't understand or empathize with J Lo's, she's just a shitty ole Narc.

Jennifer Lopez had trauma, she's talked about her own extremely narcissistic mother and emotionally wimpy father many times. Early childhood trauma is at the root of nearly all personality disorders. Even Meghan Markle's clusterfuck of cluster B idiopathies stem from early childhood shame, abandonment, neglect, etc etc. And if Histrionics are easily influenced, I present you with exhibit A, B, C, D and E of Madonna becoming a mirror of everyone she's ever dated or married. I have enormous empathy for the woman, and I can call out her her personality disorder(s) precisely because I understand how such disorders come about, and it ain't nice. It hurts. It's incurable. It runs the show. It's exhausting. Very, very few of her relationships have endured over the years, and both of her marriages were train wrecks. This is textbook personality disorder. I know because my mother is one. The similarities between my mom and Madonna are uncanny. UNCANNY.

Here's the news flash: having NPD or HPD is not a character flaw. Because it's not a choice anyone makes consciously. So when you delineate between J Lo and Madonna because one has a more well-established trauma narrative, I have to just laugh.

Madonna has made a massive fool of herself for decades due to her insatiable need for love and attention. That Truth or Dare documentary is a case study. She has been shoving her tatas and her yaya in all of our faces for decades. And no, not everyone on Instagram is wearing grills and twerking at age 60. Not every elder pop star is dating a string of 20 year old men and talking about blow jobs publicly. The extensive, endless and shockingly over-the-top plastic surgery and the selfie filters are two more indicators --- NPDs and HPDs are obsessed with their appearance over all else.

By "going dark" and not appearing on so many award shows or talk shows, I take that to mean she had fallen out of favor. Not that she was being discreet. She's no longer in the zeitgeist. There is no reason or need for her to show up much of the time. But when she can, she does. The Met Gala, fashion shows, concerts, art openings...she gets around, and she often looks extremely wacky and bizarre.

So, R46, you're simply just wrong.

COURTNEY LOVE

COURTNEY LOVE

COURTNEY LOVE

COURTNEY LOVE

COURTNEY LOVE

R46 I just read that HPD, NPD and BPD folks tend to slow down and mellow out a little bit after they hit their 60s. So perhaps that is why J LO is still in full go-mode while Madonna seems, says you, to be less greedy for exposure comparatively.

Timothee

Can it manifested like levels on a spectrum? Because I’ve wondered if one of my late aunts exhibited traits of histrionic personality disorder. But I also had the simultaneous thought that even if she does, there are examples in the media that appear more pronounced. But perhaps that’s a skewed comparison due to the scale of mass media.

R55 You got greyed out. You’re wrong about Madonna having H or N. Read the first 9 chapters of Mary Gabriel’s book and you’ll see she’s not either.

Trump isn’t starving. At least physically.

I did read Gabriel’s book on Madonna and she did so many good things, charitable things, she never publicized. Real honest to goodness humanitarian things she not once rang her own bell. Narcissists would have made sure those things found their way into the media within weeks. She never wanted to be America’s Sweetheart. A narcissist would. Gabriel’s book will make you see Madonna in a whole new light. Gabriel doesn’t do books on entertainment. She only decided to do one on Madonna after hearing some things from a friend. She spent 7 years writing it. It changed how I see her.

I’d say no to Courtney Love. She’s not either. She’s just a talented druggie.

Jayne Mansfield. Like Trump, she thought she would disappear if the cameras were turned off. Just constant stunts.

Bette Davis AND Joan Crawford

R40 You are aware it's not actually Jennifer Aniston writing those exclusives, yes?

R46 Early childhood trauma/abuse/neglect is requisite for creating personality disorders, so saying someone isn't a narcissist--they just act that way because they had a rough childhood--doesn't actually make a lot of sense.