Rosie Viva

Welcome to episode 210 with Rosie Viva, who is a model, presenter, author and an ambassador for Bipolar UK.

Rosie has experienced various mental health challenges from a young age and was originally misdiagnosed with an anxiety disorder.

Despite this she built a successful career as a model which took her all over the globe, working with some of the world’s biggest brands but in the background her mental health was often moving through cycles of manic highs and extreme lows.

In 2018, Rosie was arrested after she caused Stansted Airport to evacuate all its waiting passengers during a psychotic episode.  She spent the next 3 months under section and was eventually diagnosed with bipolar disorder.

In this episode I chat to Rosie about her early experiences with mental illness and what was happening in her life in the build up to being hospitalised.

We chat about shutting down Stanstead Airport and going to hospital and we chat about how she went about rebuilding her life after she was discharged.

We also chat about the shame and stigma around being under section, accepting the diagnosis of bipolar, adapting to the lifestyle changes that come with staying well, relearning how to socialise and the sadness that comes with being diagnosed at a young age and missing out on some of the usual experiences that young people have.

Rosie has written about her experiences in her new book ‘Completely Normal and Totally Fine: My Life with Bipolar Disorder’ which is due out next week.  I was lucky enough to get an early read and it’s an incredibly brave and important book that will resonate with anyone who has been affected by mental illness.

Connect with Rosie on social media @rosieviva

Learn more about her book here: Completely Normal and Totally Fine: My Life with Bipolar Disorder: Rosie Viva: Bloomsbury Tonic

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Thanks for listening!