Last month Halle Berry made a statement that she has weaned herself off of insulin. In effect finding a “cure” for her Type 1 Diabetes. I had been thinking about her statement for several days and I had been contemplating whether I wanted to address it on some blogs out there. I probably won’t do that. But I did decide to create my own blog. Here's my 2-cents worth. Take it for what it's worth.
First of all, I just want to state for the record that I have never been critical of Halle Berry's silence on her Diabetes. She is known for not saying much, if anything about it. That’s her prerogative. And I can completely understand and accept that she doesn’t like to broadcast this fact. There have been many in the Diabetic community who have been critical of her for not saying more. Not becoming a spokesperson. Not shouting from the stage that she is a Diabetic. But, that’s her decision. Nowhere is it written that we Diabetics (or insert any other disease here) have to become the next Mary Tyler Moore if we become famous.
I for one don’t go around announcing that I’m a Diabetic. Many people I work with don’t know. 95% of the people I meet and get to know don’t know. Recently on vacation in Vancouver a woman I think saw my pump sticking out from under my shirt and asked about it. So I told her. Interestingly she made the comment that I didn’t look like what she thought a Diabetic would look like. And we talked about it for fifteen minutes. But for the most part I don’t go around advertising the fact. Or go out of my way to talk about it. You won’t see me at a Star Trek convention lifting my shirt, pointing to my insertion site (for the pump) and shouting "Hey, I’m part Borg!!!!!" Though I do think it in my head. :-)
On a rare occasion I will share stories about it. But, for the most part I don’t mention it to most people. So, I definitely can understand Halle’s decision not to talk about it too.
HOWEVER!!! When you are such a public figure and you haven’t said much in the past. Then decide to spout some crap that just further confuses the public on Diabetes, I take issue with that.
Halle Berry last month was interviewed on "Inside the Actor’s Studio." I Tivo’d it. The host asks a bunch of questions about the actor’s life, growing up, career, etc. So he asked about her first TV show, "Living Dolls." He then said, "what must have been one of the most significant experiences of your life occurred during the taping of Living Dolls." And she proceeded to say yes, one of the days on the set, she passed out on the set, woke up in the hospital and was told she was a Diabetic. The host asked if this is Type I. And she says, "It is really Type I though it is classified now as Type II because I am no longer insulin-dependent. I was for a while. But I've managed to wean myself off insulin, so now I like to put myself in the Type 2 category." And it was left at that.
Huh???????????? Really?????? Do tell??????? I'd like to be "weaned" off of insulin. There have been many days where I just wanted to hurl my insulin pump against the wall. If she can teach me how to wean myself of insulin, I can hurl it in victory! She's going to be a very rich woman since she's discovered the cure for Type 1 Diabetes!!! Plus, she's very pregnant. Being pregnant and a Diabetic (Type I or Type II) presents a whole set of issues/problems/complications that I can’t even begin to imagine as a guy with Diabetes. Yet, if you seriously think you've "weaned" yourself from a Type I to a Type II AND you're pregnant, God help you.
I could defend it if she said that she had been misdiagnosed as a Type I but was really a Type II. She never said that she was misdiagnosed. Over the years (November marks 39 years that I've had Type I Diabetes) I have had to deal with my share of people and professionals and misinformation. Even doctors, school nurses, family and close friends have offered some naïve statements and just plain wrong information. In the past year even my sister-in-law has told my wife there's a cure for Diabetes. And I can excuse that from people who don't have Diabetes. I might even be willing to excuse a Diabetic who is not in the public eye or who has only dealt with their disease for a few years. But from someone who has had it for 18 years? Halle Berry got Diabetes at 22. She’s now my age, 40 (only a few months older than me). And from a movie star who is a public figure? I don’t think so. You don't get off that easy especially with the influence you can have on so many people.
Again, maybe she was misdiagnosed in terms of the Type. Maybe editing of the show cut out additional information that would have clarified her statements. Maybe she’s just plain ignorant. She needs to now clarify her statements.
What concerns me though is that because she is a public figure, and many kids look up to her, due to her roles in X-Men and Catwoman for example, that 6, 8 and 12-year olds might ask their parents if they can be “weaned” off of insulin just like Halle Berry! At 40-years old I know better and can just ignore it. But, I wouldn’t want to be the parents of those kids and have to explain it’s not possible for a Type 1 Diabetic to come off of insulin no matter what Catwoman says.
If you Google for Halle Berry and Diabetes many international websites are reporting that she has weaned herself off of insulin through healthy living and good eating. Most aren’t even reporting that for a true Type I that that is impossible. They're just reporting it as fact. I’m headed home to New Jersey this weekend for a wedding. Guess I better be prepared for more dumb statements from my in-laws thanks to Halle Berry's wisdom.
Okay, I’ve ranted long enough. In any case, since she did make the statements. And various news groups have picked up on the story. And many in the Diabetic community are outraged by what she said (Diabetics as well as doctors). I think she needs to clarify her statements and not go back to being completely quiet on the topic again. Is she a Type I? Was she misdiagnosed and really been a Type II the entire time? Did we all just assume that she was Type I? Did editing of “Inside the Actor’s Studio” cause a misrepresentation of what she meant?
It's hard enough dealing with the erroneous information that Hollywood puts out there about Diabetes. And that from doctors who go on Larry King or Oprah and don’t clarify whether they are addressing Type I or Type II Diabetes. But to have to endure it from "one of us" is just hard to excuse.
Okay, I'm done. Back to being quiet myself. :-)
Shawn
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