Dr. Isaac Newman Arthur, a clinical psychologist, is urging people to show comic Funny Face more empathy in order to support him in overcoming his mental health issues.
According to Dr. Arthur, the Ghana Psychological Association’s Public Relations Officer (PRO), Funny Face will have a difficult time recovering from his illness if people ignore his mental health issues and hold him in low regard.
During a Tuesday, April 9 interview with Graphic Showbiz, Dr. Arthur implored Ghanaians, particularly online users, to exercise greater caution and grace when expressing their opinions on Funny Face’s situation.
“Nobody is immune to mental health issues, it doesn’t matter whether you are spiritual or you have money or not. And the truth is that our society doesn’t listen to the cries of people until something comes up.
“It’s not easy at all for your issue to be out for people to say what they want. And I think as a community, we need to be careful and more graceful with our words particularly, in the case of Funny Face,” he said.
Since Funny Face revealed his bipolar diagnosis to the world a few years ago, there has been a constant dialogue about his struggles with mental health issues.
Prior to that, the well-known comedian had voiced legitimate reservations about some of his performances after becoming involved in a string of online feuds with his baby mom.
Funny Face took a few years off the scene to recover from the procedure and take care of his health. He made a comeback in 2022 when he played at Lekzy Decomic’s Too Cute to Be Mute performance.
Given the excellent performance he gave that day, many had anticipated the return of the once-loved comedian.
The optimistic expectations, however, were dashed at the start of this year when Funny Face reverted to his previous behavior and continued to accuse his three children’s mother of denying him access to them.
When Funny Face knocked down a few pedestrians at Kasoa in the Central Region on Sunday, March 24, and was later charged with a crime, things would only get worse for him.
Dr. Newman concurs that celebrities’ lifestyles have an impact on their mental health, and that Funny Face’s situation will worsen in the absence of significant social support.
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He contends that celebrities’ mental health suffers greatly from the stress of living up to fan expectations, and that this is especially true for those who have previously received a mental health diagnosis, as Funny Face does.
“Truthfully, the lifestyles of celebrities create problems in terms of the expectations of people. The demands of the job itself and trying to stay relevant to be able to do well and maintain a certain craft come with many stresses.
“Then again, there is anxiety with expectations and performance. Also, you lose your privacy because everything you do is in the media.
‘All those things have a way of making the condition of stars going through mental challenges get worse than the ordinary person. The response of the masses and all the negativities can also influence your mental well-being.
“People can insult and say all kinds of things when some of the things they say aren’t even true. Dealing with all the negativity that comes from the masses affects you because you are human.
“If you are a star, you first need to be aware of your problems and adopt a healthy lifestyle that helps you build mental resilience daily, including letting people handle your social media pages, to avoid the trolls and hurtful words,” he said.
