With an ever increasing number of people developing type 1 and type 2 diabetes, it has never been more important to look to role models in order to gain insight and inspiration. It is often easy to look at celebrities assuming that their lives consist exclusively of wining, dining and socialising.
However, many high flying celebrities, sportsmen and socialites actually have diabetes yet never appear to allow having this condition interfere with their aspirations, goals and ambitions.
It is for these reasons that they are such great role models to many people with the condition. Below are just a handful of the celebrities, sportsmen, politicians and socialites who have diabetes yet have not let the condition hold them back from attaining their goals and dreams.According to estimations from the American Diabetes Association, more than 30 million Americans live with diabetes — a number that includes some of your favorite actors, singers, athletes, and TV hosts. Here’s what these famous faces have had to say about managing their type 1 or type 2 diagnoses.
10. Jackie Robinson
Around the time he retired, Robinson, the first African American to play and win Most Valuable Player in the major league baseball, learned that he has diabetes during a routine doctors visit. While he kept his diagnosis private, The New York Times noted after his death in 1972 that the disease was a factor writing “The immediate cause of Jackie Robinsons death last week at the age of 53 was apparently a heart attack, but to many doctors a more fundamental process was involved: Diabetes and its complications”. In his autobiography “I Never Had it Made”, Robinson doesn’t mention his diabetes. This was despite being almost blinded by diabetes at the time of writing the book and suffering from other diabetes-related complications. Jack suddenly lost a lot of weight and he began to have pain in his legs,” says Robinson’s widow, Rachel. “In 1952, at age 33, Jackie Robinson was diagnosed with diabetes,” the narrator, Keith David, says. “The doctor also found that his heart was deteriorating,” Rachel Robinson continues. “It was a big shock to both of us because it meant our lives were going to change forever after that. And they did. He didn’t want to discuss it with anyone, and never talked about what changes he had to make in order to keep playing.”