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Simon Pegg says he has been diagnosed with ADHD

Actor Simon Pegg, 56, said on the podcast I'm ADHD! No You're Not that he has been diagnosed with ADHD, which he said confirmed things he had long put down to character fault.

2 outlets · 1L · 1C · 0R First reported Account updated
Image: Evening Standard
Image: The Independent

1 / 2

The story, neutrally told

Mixed · 2Simon Pegg, the 56-year-old actor and writer, has said he has been diagnosed with ADHD, which he said "confirmed a lot of stuff that I'd been wrestling with". Mixed · 2He spoke about it on the podcast I'm ADHD! No You're Not, in an episode released on Thursday, and said he sought a diagnosis because he "just wanted to know". Mixed · 2Pegg said there was "a lot of build up and suspicion" and that getting a diagnosis took a while. He said it explained things he had been "attributing to just character fault".

Mixed · 2He said he had thought the condition came on in later life, because he "wasn't a naughty child". He linked it to depression he has had since 18 and said therapy and medication may have treated "the symptoms and not the cause". Mixed · 2Pegg said that, looking back, he had assumed ADHD children were chaotic and inattentive at school. He said he also remembered fidgeting as a child, which made him think he may have had it "longer than I thought". Mixed · 2He said his wife is "dealing with it as if I'd been diagnosed ages ago" and makes allowances for forgetfulness and lack of concentration.

Mixed · 2Both outlets cite the NHS description of ADHD as a condition where the brain works differently, affecting concentration, sitting still and impulse control. Both also note that Pegg has spoken about clinical depression and difficulty controlling his drinking. Mixed · 2Later in the episode he told hosts Paul Whitehouse and Dr Mine Conkbayir that he was guarded early in his career and first discussed depression and drinking publicly around 2018, when he made a film about schizophrenia. He said he was "so touched" by the response from people thanking him.

Every sentence links to the reporting it rests on. The pill in front of each says where its sources sit: Left, Centre or Right when one side supplies at least half of them, Mixed when they are evenly split. The number is how many outlets it cites.

Left1 outlet

Framing
The Independent presents the story as a personal disclosure. Its headline stresses the idea that he may have had ADHD 'longer than I thought'.
Emphasis
Pegg's reflection on his childhood and the confirmation the diagnosis gave him.
Leaves out or plays down
None significant; the account is essentially the same as the centre outlet's.
For example
“Simon Pegg confirms ADHD diagnosis after admitting he may have had it ‘longer than I thought’” — The Independent

Centre1 outlet

Framing
The Evening Standard presents the story as a personal disclosure. Its headline leads with the quote that the diagnosis 'confirmed stuff I'd been wrestling with'.
Emphasis
The sense of relief and self-understanding, and Pegg's wider openness about mental health.
Leaves out or plays down
None significant; the account is essentially the same as the left outlet's.
For example
“Simon Pegg reveals ADHD diagnosis: ‘It confirmed stuff I’d been wrestling with’” — Evening Standard

Right0 outlets

No right outlet in our sources has covered this story yet.