November 26, 2004 -- Bubbly blond "Cheers" star Shelley Long - depressed over the bust-up of her marriage - was rushed to the hospital after taking an overdose of painkillers in an apparent suicide bid.
The 55-year-old actress, who played ditzy waitress Diane Chambers on the classic TV sitcom, was taken to UCLA Medical Center in Los Angeles after the heartbreaking incident.
Long had been extremely depressed in recent months, was barely eating and often spent long periods of time in bed, said friends, speculating that she tried to kill herself. "It is very sad to see this woman, who is only 55, looking like she's turning 90," one pal told The Sun newspaper of London.
Another friend said, "For 18 months, she's been getting more and more depressed. It's like seeing someone falling off a cliff.
"She told some of her good friends she felt she had nothing to live for."
The incident took place Nov. 16, and hospital records show that Long was discharged Tuesday. Her mom, in a brief telephone interview, confirmed to The Post that her daughter is no longer in the hospital.
In a weird twist, Long once played a depressed woman committed to a hospital for depression in the 1979 TV movie "The Cracker Factory."
She's not the only "Cheers" cast member to have been felled by depression — Kelsey Grammer, too, has also had severe bouts with the blues.
Things got rough for the actress last year, when her securities-broker husband, Bruce Tyson, walked out after 22 years of marriage. They are now divorcing, and Long had to leave their Hollywood mansion when it was sold. She now lives alone.
She met Tyson on a blind date in 1979. They were wed two years later — it was her second marriage — and have a daughter, Juliana, 19.
The actress starred in several films since bolting "Cheers" in 1987, six years before it ended in 1993.
Among the flicks were 1995's "The Brady Bunch Movie," in which she played Carol Brady, and 2000's "Dr. T and the Women."
Many see her career as a classic example of what happens to some TV stars who give up popular roles to seek movie fame.
She never regained the popularity she enjoyed as the overeducated "Cheers" barmaid, who was a foil to bar owner Sam Malone, played by Ted Danson.
She's slated for a rare, pretaped guest appearance tonight in the ABC series "Complete Savages."
For "Cheers, " she won an Emmy and two Golden Globes.
Eddie Doyle, the real-life Ted Danson who's served drinks for 30 years at the Bull & Finch Pub in Boston, the bar on which Cheers was based, said:
"I'm just really surprised and hope she's going to be all right. I guess they say things like that happen around the holidays."
Joined: Mon Oct 18, 2004 4:51 am Posts: 146 Location: on the slope
punkdavid wrote:
Ron Dayvüe wrote:
punkdavid wrote:
Quote:
She's not the only "Cheers" cast member to have been felled by depression — Kelsey Grammer, too, has also had severe bouts with the blues
This person got PAID to write this story?
--PunkDavid
that's how the post has always been editorially.
Oh, I know it. It's for those New Yorkers who think that USA Today is too stuffy.
--PunkDavid
It's also a money issue. The Post is a quarter in comparison to the Times which is a dollar. Sometimes the Times can be more difficult to find depending on the neighborhood you're in.
How much is USA Today? I never see people reading that piece of dung.
_________________ God knows why my country don't give a fuck ~e.s.
Very tastefully covered in the New York Post as well.
Quote:
November 26, 2004 -- Bubbly blond "Cheers" star Shelley Long - depressed over the bust-up of her marriage
Quote:
She's not the only "Cheers" cast member to have been felled by depression — Kelsey Grammer, too, has also had severe bouts with the blues
This person got PAID to write this story?
--PunkDavid
Exactly what I thought!
This is one of a number of articles I've read lately discussing depression or someone with depression, that goes on to talk about 'the blues'...what is wrong with these writers!
Joined: Sun Oct 17, 2004 9:22 am Posts: 152 Location: 23 miles from Hart Plaza.
gogol wrote:
What an ass
You don't take pain pills all at once, you take them slowly and enjoy each and every one, preferably with a nice Marlboro and handle of Jim Beam
I hate to say it but this made me laugh...what a waste of pain pills. Now...for honesty...I feel for her. I wonder if her problems are really related to the marraige break up.
The story sounds like what happened to me 4 years ago. It started out the same. It looked like I had severe depression. Quit eating. Too tired to get out of bed. Ended up weighing 95 lbs (I'm 5' 7"), not working, and virtually bed ridden. I thought it was depression too and all of us, incjudung the docs, just chalked it up to whatever was going on in my life at that time. THEN>>>> I started having severe seizures. Found out I had got a head injury in a car accident 7 years prior that didn't manifest until 4 years ago. It had nothing to do with depression, etc. Lots of my family are calling me telling me this story and they all wonder if she is really experiencing some physical thing that just hasn't been discovered yet, like me. Either way...that life is like not living at all. I spent 6 months completely bed ridden and hospitalized about 6 times during those six months. When they got my problems under some kind of control and I was able to get back to my life, it felt like I had been gone a long time. I found simple things like trees in the woods and creeks, etc. so beautiful.
I still end up in the hospital often and often in bed for a few weeks, but I at least know why and that's half the battle.
I wish her the best!!! I hope they can help her and that they get the right diagnosis.
_________________ "If something can be read without effort...great effort has gone into its writing." ~ Enrique Jardiel Poncela
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