Mental Illness
Including suicide and attempted suicide
Gill, Madge
Gill was born to an unmarried woman and spent 10 years in an orphanage. She married in 1907 but did not begin to paint until one of her sons died of influenza. She became a spiritualist ... [more]
Head, Bessie
Head was the child of a wealthy white South African woman and a Black servant when interracial relationships were illegal in South Africa. Her mother was sent to a mental hospital as punish... [more]
Heracles
One of several versions of his life states that Heracles was adopted by Hera, wife of the god Zeus. Another version of his life states that he was the son of Zeus and Alkmene (wife of Amphi... [more]
Ivan VI
Ivan, the great-grandson of Czar Ivan V, was born on 13 August 1740 and adopted on 27 October as her heir by Empress Anna Ivanovna (1693-1740), his great-aunt, who had no natural heirs. ... [more]
Jackson, Thomas (Stonewall)
Jackson's parents were poor. His father and sister died of typhoid fever in 1826. His mother remarried in 1830 but her husband disliked her children and little Thomas was sent to live with ... [more]
Lear, Frances
Lear was born to an unmarried teenager and relinquished for adoption. Her adoptive mother was cold and cruel and her father, whom she loved, died when she was 10. Her step-father sexually a... [more]
McShane, Mike
McShane was adopted at three weeks of age by a retired US Army officer and his wife; his mother was a Métis Indian. His behavior when he was 16 was so extreme (including trying to burn down ... [more]
Monroe, Marilyn
Born Norma Jean Baker to an unmarried woman, Monroe was fostered from babyhood until about the age of seven, because her mother was working and not well enough to care for her as well. Duri... [more]
Nero Claudius Caesar (under Roman Empire)
Ancient Roman society institutionalized the adoption of adults. It was relatively common for a wealthy Roman couple to adopt an adult man, even a slave, as heir if they did not have any son... [more]
O'Connor, Hugh
O'Connor was born in Rome and adopted by the famous American actor Carroll O'Connor (All in the Family) and his wife while he was in Rome in acting in the 1963 film Cleopatra, with Richard ... [more]
