Rodney Dangerfield is standing up in a whole new way.
The veteran comedian known for his "I get no respect" line of jokes is opening up about his lifelong battle with depression in "Health Week," a PBS medical show."People think comedians are never depressed - that they're always happy, but depression has been with me all my life," Dangerfield says on the program. "I was writing jokes when I was 15 - not out of happiness, but to escape."
Fearing the stigma of mental illness and convinced change was impossible, Dangerfield suffered in silence for years.
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"Some see the glass half-empty, others half-full," he said. "The way I see it, it's always empty."