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Who are people with ASD
(autism spectrum disorder)
12 Celebrities with Autism Open Up About Life on the Spectrum
Autism is more common than you think. According to the CDC, approximately 1 in 36 children has autism spectrum disorder, and that number has been steadily increasing since the organization began collecting data in 2000. Recent research has shown that more adults are being diagnosed with autism, leading to increased awareness and interest in the topic.
Videos on social media highlighting the signs of autism in adults and/or lesser-known symptoms are garnering millions of views, and more and more celebrities are beginning to announce their own autism diagnoses (or that their children are on the spectrum).
According to the CDC, autism spectrum disorder, or ASD, is a “developmental disorder caused by differences in the brain.” There is a wide range of signs and symptoms, including problems with communication or interaction, restricted or repetitive behaviors, and delays in speech, motor, or learning skills.
While many people with ASD are diagnosed in childhood, it can also be diagnosed in adulthood (as you’ll see in the celebrity profiles below).
Because autism exists on a broad spectrum, symptoms present differently in people with ASD. And as more and more people receive a diagnosis, awareness and acceptance of ASD are more important than ever, so we love that these celebrities are speaking out about their experiences and challenging the persistent stigma that still surrounds autism. From pop star Sia to environmental activist Greta Thunberg, read the stories of celebrities sharing their experiences with autism.
Tallulah Willis
Actress Tallulah Willis shared her autism diagnosis in March 2024 in a sweet, understated social media caption for her followers, accompanying a video tribute with her father, Bruce Willis. “Tell me you’re autistic without telling me you’re autistic,” she wrote next to a video of a young Tallulah joyfully rubbing her father’s bald head.
Willis detailed her diagnosis in the comments. When one fan asked if she was diagnosed as a child, Willis replied:
“This is actually the first time I’ve shared my diagnosis publicly.” I found out this summer, and it changed my life.”
Sia
Pop singer Sia opened up about her autism diagnosis in a 2023 interview with Rob Has a Podcast, saying, “I’m on the spectrum, and I’m recovering and all that—there’s a lot of things.”
The “Unstoppable” singer continued, “For 45 years, I’ve been like, ‘I need to put on “My human suit.” And only in the last two years have I become completely, totally myself.”
In 2020, Sia faced backlash for her portrayal of autism in her film Music, in which neurotypical actress Maddie Ziegler played a nonverbal autistic character. Sia later apologized and promised that scenes showing Ziegler’s character in restraint and experiencing sensory overstimulation would be removed, according to Rolling Stone.
Discussing her own ASD diagnosis in a 2023 interview, Sia said:
“No one can ever know and love you when you’re full of secrets… And when we finally sit in a room full of strangers and tell them our deepest, darkest, most shameful secrets… and for the first time in our lives, we feel like we’re seen for who we really are, and then we can start going out into the world and just acting like people… and not pretending to be anyone.”
Greta Thunberg
Environmental activist Greta Thunberg shared her ASD diagnosis on social media back in 2019 in response to relentless attacks on her actions and appearance.
“When haters target your appearance and differences, it means they have nowhere to go. And then you know you’re winning!” Thunberg wrote.
“I have Asperger’s syndrome, which means that sometimes I’m a little different from the norm. And—under the right circumstances—being different is a superpower.”
In a 2021 interview with The Guardian, Thunberg discussed her experience receiving her diagnosis and why she considers autism a superpower.
“Many people with autism have a particular interest that they can sit and do forever without getting bored. Sometimes that’s a very useful thing,” she explained.
“Autism can be something that holds you back, but if you’re put in the right circumstances, if you’re around the right people, if you get the adaptations you need and feel like you have a purpose, then you can become whoever you can be and use it all for good. And I think I’m doing that now.”
She added that receiving the diagnosis was a relief: “The diagnosis was almost entirely positive for me. It helped me get the support I needed and helped me understand why I behaved the way I did.”
Holly Madison
Holly Madison revealed that she was officially diagnosed as “someone with autism” in a 2021 interview on the Ahead of the Curve podcast. In 2023, during a performance on On the Talking to Death podcast, the author of Down the Rabbit Hole detailed her experience with autism.
“The doctor told me I have high executive functions, which means I’m perfectly capable of living my life and doing things ‘normally,'” she said.
“I think because I’m quieter, I’ve only recently learned to make eye contact, I’m often lost in my own thoughts and stuff like that, people find it offensive. They’re like, ‘Damn, you’re not that interested in me.'”
Madison explained that she’s “just not on the same social wavelength as other people” and that she hopes people don’t take things like that personally. She says the diagnosis helps:
“I like that I can explain it.”
Susan Boyle
Susan Boyle rose to fame as a contestant on Britain’s Got Talent in 2009, but it wasn’t until 2012 that the opera singer was diagnosed with autism.
Boyle was specifically told she had Asperger’s syndrome—a now-obsolete term that was once used to describe people with “high-functioning” autism who had average or above-average language and intelligence, according to the Cleveland Clinic. (Asperger’s syndrome has now been “replaced by the broader diagnosis of ASD,” the Cleveland Clinic says.)
When she shared her diagnosis with The Guardian in 2013, Boyle said receiving the diagnosis was a “relief,” though her experience with the symptoms as a child had left her feeling isolated.
“I struggle with relationships,” she said at the time.
“I never know if people are being sincere. I would say I have relationship difficulties, communication difficulties, which leads to a lot of frustration. If people were a little more patient, it would help.”
Boyle was also determined to show that she was more than just her diagnosis. “Asperger’s doesn’t define me,” she explained. “It’s a condition I have to live with and work with, but I feel more at peace with it.” People will better understand who I am and why I do what I do.”
Dan Aykroyd
The star of the original Ghostbusters franchise, Dan Aykroyd, told The Daily Mail in 2013 that his autism actually helped inspire the popular films.
Aykroyd, who was diagnosed with Asperger’s syndrome in the 1980s—”when my wife talked me into seeing a doctor”—said he copes with his ASD fairly well, but he does have obsessive tendencies.
“One of my symptoms was my obsession with ghosts and law enforcement—for example, I carry a police badge,” he said.
“I became obsessed with Hans Holzer, the greatest ghost hunter. That’s when the idea for my film “Ghostbusters” was born.
Anthony Hopkins
Academy Award winner Anthony Hopkins”I didn’t even know Asperger’s syndrome existed” until he was diagnosed.
“My wife was trying to figure out who she was married to and read a therapist’s newsletter,” he said of his path to diagnosis in a 2017 interview with the Desert Sun.
He learned that people with the condition “tend to be creative or have a severe disability,” noting that “I don’t know if that’s true for me, but I know I’m never going to be able to be calm. I tend to multitask. I decide I’m not going to draw, and I spend 24 hours drawing.”
Courtney Love
Courtney Love has spoken publicly about her experience with ASD only once, in a 1994 interview with Rolling Stone magazine.
“When I say I’m an introvert, I’ve been diagnosed with autism,” the Hole singer said, and her initial symptoms included difficulty communicating.
“I didn’t speak at a young age,” she explained. “That’s when I just blossomed. My first visit to a psychiatrist was when I was about three years old.”
Elon Musk
Elon Musk could hardly have chosen a more public venue to share his ASD diagnosis: he announced it on Saturday Night Live in 2021.
“Tonight I’m truly making history as the first person with Asperger’s syndrome to host SNL, or at least the first to admit it,” the Tesla and SpaceX founder said in his monologue. (Dan Aykroyd hosted in 2003 but didn’t publicly disclose his diagnosis until 2013.)
Musk detailed his experience with ASD in a 2022 TED talk, sharing that his childhood was “pretty tough” because, for him, “social cues weren’t intuitive… I would take things very literally, as if the words they said were exactly what they meant. But that turned out to be wrong.”
Despite the bullying, Musk found refuge in science and technology. “I enjoyed spending all night programming computers by myself,” he explained.
“Most people don’t like typing weird symbols into a computer all night. They think it’s no fun. But I really enjoyed it.”
Wentworth Miller
In 2021, Prison Break star Wentworth Miller took to social media to mark the anniversary of his autism diagnosis.
“This fall marks one year since I was unofficially diagnosed with autism. Self-diagnosed first. Officially diagnosed after,” he wrote in a now-deleted post, according to CNN. He said the diagnosis was a “shock” but “not a surprise” and acknowledged that he still had much to learn.
“I don’t know enough about autism. (There’s a lot to learn),” Miller wrote. “My work now feels like an extension of my understanding. Re-examining 5 decades of life experience through a new lens.“
He also noted that it was not his intention to speak on behalf of the entire autistic community, a group that has “historically been talked about… I don’t want to cause further harm.
It’s just to raise my hand and say, “I’m here.”
Daryl Hannah
Blade Runner actress Daryl Hannah was diagnosed with autism as a child, and as a result of the condition, she suffered from severe shyness and isolation. She also repeatedly rocked back and forth, a symptom of ASD, and doctors considered placing her in a psychiatric hospital until her mother intervened.
Acting became her escape from her symptoms, she told People magazine in a 2013 Today cover story. “For me, acting was going to Oz and meeting the Tin Man,” Hannah explained. “That still is.”
While Hannah said she still struggles with the mental and physical symptoms of ASD, she manages them to continue her acting career and her environmental activism.“I spent too much time being afraid, shy, and insecure,” she said. “Living with”It’s too short to focus on the details.”
Melanie Sykes
English TV presenter Melanie Sykes described her autism diagnosis, received in 2021, as “truly life-changing, or rather, life-affirming.”
According to The Sun, Sykes shared her diagnosis in an email to subscribers of her magazine, The Frank, telling readers that the diagnosis came with a “sense of relief” and that she was celebrating the news. “I now have a deeper understanding of myself, my life, and what I’ve been through,” Sykes explained.
Sykes said that her autism sometimes made it difficult for her to work on television. She would accidentally respond to a director speaking into her earpiece while she was live on air,
“as I can’t simultaneously juggle the person I’m interviewing and the person speaking into my ear.”
Her memory was also “problematic, and remembering bits on camera could really freak me out, leading to sleepless nights. There were a lot of tears of fear and frustration.”
With the diagnosis, Sykes says, “a lot of things made sense.”