27/08/2026
Our club is getting bigger! 😉
Sheridan Smith has spoken candidly about being diagnosed with ADHD at the age of 42 and how, looking back, the diagnosis helped make sense of feelings and behaviours she had experienced for years.
The Gavin & Stacey and I Fought the Law actress revealed the diagnosis during an interview with Vogue, explaining some of the things she had previously struggled to understand about herself.
Sheridan described being prone to rumination and overthinking, as well as finding certain social situations difficult. Even something as everyday as being part of a group chat with other parents from her son’s school could leave her unsure of herself.
“I’m useless – I never know what to say and I overthink,” she said.
She also described experiencing a lot of background noise in her brain.
The diagnosis came after Sheridan had previously spoken openly about her experiences with anxiety, low mood and burnout — and about the difficulties she had faced trying to understand exactly what she was experiencing.
Speaking to The Guardian, she explained: “I went to visit various different people. I got one diagnosis, from the first doctor I went to, that it was bipolar. I was put on medication for a year and then I got a second opinion. This doctor said no, it’s not bipolar, you’ve got generalised anxiety. And he put me on anti-anxiety tablets. Which became a nightmare, because I needed more and more and more.
“It’s a really time-consuming process of finding the right diagnosis, finding the right medication. It’s a weird one, diagnosing mental illness. Because you can’t see it.”
ADHD can affect attention, activity levels and impulse control, and while it affects both men and women, women have historically been diagnosed far less frequently. Symptoms can also present differently, meaning some women do not receive a diagnosis until well into adulthood.
For Sheridan, finally receiving her ADHD diagnosis at 42 provided another piece of the puzzle and, in hindsight, made “a lot of sense”.
It’s good to see someone with such a public profile speaking so openly about her own experiences.
