Rene Russo made an unexpected revelation while taping an episode of The Queen Latifah Show this week. Appearing on the talk show with her Nightcrawler costar Jake Gyllenhaal, Russo opened up to Queen Latifah about her diagnosis of bipolar disorder.
Asked about a time in her life that she was forced to “push through” and come out on the other side, Russo, 60, named “bipolar medication.”
“I pretty much hit a wall,” she told Latifah, 44. “My mom said my whole childhood, ‘You’re stop-and-go.’ I stopped and I had to like, ‘Whoa,’ that was it for me.”
Producing a shocked silence from the talk show host and Gyllenhaal, 33, Russo smiled as she spoke about her experience with medication to manage her bipolar disorder.
“For all the people that are having trouble and maybe feel bad about taking medication, I didn’t expect to say this, but that was really it for me,” the Thor actress said. “It’s okay — you will make it through. It’s not easy but you will make it through.”
Applauding Russo for her brave disclosure, Latifah asked the star what inspired her to seek help.
“I literally crashed, hit a wall and couldn’t get out of bed,” Russo said. “I thought it was depression, but if you take antidepressants it speeds you up more. I’m kind of stop-and-go, I either crash or speed. I haven’t shared this, but I think it’s kind of important. I have some friends who don’t want to go on medication, and they are suffering.”
Watch Russo open up in the video above, and catch the full episode of The Queen Latifah Show on Thursday, Oct. 30.
