Does Jenny McCarthy Have (Mild) Asperger Syndrome?
September 26, 2007 by Kristina Chew, PhD
Filed under Health
Kev asks this in a comment on the post on Jenny McCarthy, Autism Mother.
This is the DSM-IV’s criteria.
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As a note, I posted that information with much thought. I only wish the best for Jenny McCarthy and her son Evan.
I feel identifying people who are in the spotlight as being on the spectrum may help in how we define autism itself.
I do not wish to violate Jenny’s privacy. If Jenny has a mild form of AS it is her business alone. In any case, as someone with AS I am strongly confident that it is nothing to be afraid of, and can indeed bring positivity and fulfillment to your life.
In any case I hope for a greater understanding, and hope that if I cause harm because of this speculation that I am forgiven.
I would really hesitate to Dx anyone like that. There are enough incorrect diagnoses for our kids being thrown around as it is.
It took me 10 years to get a Dx for Bug because doctors who knew nothing were telling me he had the latest fad disorder (CAPD and the like) when the processing issues were only a symptom of his Asperger’s. The school insists he has PDD-NOS.
Do we need to make it worse by worrying about that publicity ho? Someone who says she doesn’t want her son called autistic, but ends up on the cover of People Magazine with the headline My Autistic Son is only looking for fame and book sales.
Yeah I think you’re right.
Now that what I said got a headline, there’s a voice in me saying that I shouldn’t have said that. I think that’s why I now feel like I need to backtrack.
..And I think that voice was there all along. I’m not sure why I said that.
Kev, I appreciate your mention of that; another parent found your suggestion of interest. Certainly my own life with my son has made me think more and more about the genetics of autism, and about there being some autism in more of us than we might think.
The thing is, if we make our spectrum wide enough, we can place the whole world on it. In a way, it’s useful to note, and have others note, that lots and lots of people have the characteristics that we associate with autism. There is another side to that argument, but it’s too long for a comment.
I think it’s possible to speculate, but obviously we’ve no way of knowing, particularly if we don’t have access to everything known about her (only Jenny does).
Jenny might be, or she may just have some traits. I daresay a lot of things have been speculated about her if she’s famous.
It’s the same for us. I can see some traits in my husband, and especially in his brother, that might fall on the spectrum, in fact my husband and I joke about him “giving” our boy autism (because if you can’t laugh at these things, you have bigger things to worry about). I work in a technical profession and have many ODC characteristics; many in my family are musically talented (though sadly, not me), so if you want to look at those statistics, it could be coming from my side, too. The point is, we have a more intimate knowledge of our family histories than any outside observer, and we still can only speculate if our own traits played a part in our boy’s autism. How are we to determine another family’s circumstances if we can only speculate about our own?
All that being said, I do find it entertaining sometimes to speculate wildly anyway. Like I enjoy speculating about which presenters are drunk at the Grammys. It’s just a game I play quietly in my living room.
I have two children with Autism. When the
Doctor gave me the news of my daughter
having Autism, I told her that I thought I
might have Autism as well. She told me that
in 20 years as a Doctor, I was the first parent
to suspect they may have Autism. She told
me that many Father’s/Mother’s would say
they felt their spouse has it.
After testing I found out that while I don’t have
Autism, I do have ADD,OCD and possibly S.A.D.
It was worth getting checked out.
Jenny McCarthy doesn’t seem autistic to me. She’s weird all right, but weird is not the same as autistic. If her AQ is over 35, I might buy it. Till then, I’m kind of glad she’s not one of us.
Woah! This is confusing ;o)
I don’t think she has AS.
Jenny aside, I’m getting better at understanding when an Asperger trait shows up in someone, especially in people whom I know personally and for a long time.
I’ll give you a couple examples of things I wonder about..
This fellow certainly has some difficulty communicating, while this fellow of about the same age seems to virtually flit in and out of Aspergia. Meanwhile, John Elder Robison, who was diagnosed much later in life, appears to have some difficulty communicating – and, indeed, in my opinion AS manifests itself differently in his generation – as seen in this video and from what I’ve read.
Whether or not this ‘trait’ or these difficulties are an act or are real is up to the viewer.
As a second example, since finding out that I have AS, I have worked on eliminating my own Aspergian traits, and attempting to ‘pretend to be normal,’ which is still somewhat difficult for me. Since working on those traits I have realized that my mom has a milder case of AS than I do. I can literally feel when she enters and exits ‘Aspergia,’ and it’s like I have to guide her hand in order to help her leave it. My dad and sister are both very NT (or should I say non-autistic?).
It’s my personal belief that more women have AS than we have yet to realize. I am learning more and more about the condition and its manifestations in a small amount of other people as I live my life. Yes, I lead a very boring life.
Ack! Three Kevins!
Woah… now I’m getting confused as to who is who.
Anyway, when you’ve got a comparison of psychological traits (as utilized with terms like “lack” and “display”), there’ll always be someone with those traits simply because it is a comparison.
Do I think McCarthy exhibits enough of the traits to be given the title? No, not really. I think she is comparatively well within the normal range. But do I think she exhibits some qualities attributed to ASD? Sure, why not. Truth be told I don’t know her well enough to say how much, but likely she is.
Cliff
Err… important typo. “is” should be “has some”. Not contradicting myself outright in my post.
Cliff
Who cares? She’s purty, right? That’s her job, to be purty and have a real big smile. Does a very good job, as far as I can tell.
What was it I was reading about celebrity obesession? Maybe it was something in that PBS series about Broadway. Oh, that’s right, something to do with Sweeney Todd. Yes, this thread is very Sweeney Todd. Pies, anyone?
Whipped cream………
Well, she might look like mom and “apple pie”, but her message is anything but. Clearly Jenny McCarthy craves attention, and I don’t put that down, I simply don’t want my son’s autism to be diluted in the process.
Right or wrong, she is getting media attention
for Autism. The more we can get the better.
Kevin,
Media attention can be a two edged sword. I would never want the public to believe that all is cured, or that one-size-fits-all reversing autism is available.
It might just be semantics here, as many of us with older children have participated in ALL of McCarthy’s therapies, some many years ago. These are not original thoughts here.
Watch Larry King tonight, she might continue to alter her delivery, as she did yesterday on THE VIEW, when Barbara Walters asked tougher questions.
I did find that she had different views on the view than she seemed to express on Oprah and Barbara was trying to ask her very tough questions which I found refreshing. She seemed annoyed. I agreed with her less after seeing the view. I do believe that her book is just her personal experience and I just wish that her experience was not given more weight than anyone else who has been on this wonderful and enlightening life path.
Thank you Julie. I actually tape these shows to rewatch them to see if I am simply being to sensitive. When others perceive the same reactions that I do, it is appreciated tremendously. Our journeys are truly like snowflakes (not to be trite) but all of our kids are different, as are we. Our common thread is the spectrum of autism, and how we act and react are our own.
I think lots of mercury and “vaccine caused the autism” parents are on the spectrum somewhere, and that’s the cause of their rigid refusal to consider other, more reasonable explanations, and also the reason they perseverate so on it.
It’s helped me be a lot more forgiving of them to think that way.
I’m undxed as an adult but I got a mixed bag of dxes in eval after eval that all add up to “weird, smart, klutzy, socially inept.”
I just color me Asperger.
(Those were childhood dxes, of course. Little boy on my lap truncated my comment a bit.)
I have an Aspergers Rule out Diagnosis and have had it for 3 years for my son. Hes is 7 , How do we move past the Rule out Phase when evidence is so clear he is high function aspergers??
Hi Sherri: Can you document how he did prior to having the diagnosis and, too, any services or accommodations? Has he been doing better (in school, at home) since receiving the diagnosis?
Phoebe, I have been thinking the same thing—also in the way that blaming vaccines and/or mercury is clear and simple, not messily complicated.
I feel the same way about the vaccine and the mercury. I dont think they caused my sons ASD. My husband and I both are undiagnosed with ASDs. I really think that both of us fall somewhere on the spectrum. I feel alot of people out there where misdiagnosed many years ago with other disorders.
Alot of peple out there want to place the blame.
That is were it gets messy. I think in alot of cases it is all in the genes.
If Kev wants to diagnose celebrities with Asperger Syndrome based on DSM-IV criteria, then he should have the intellectual honesty of placing Adolph Hitler, Saddam Hussein and Stalin on the autism spectrum. They all meet one of the defining characteristics of ‘autism’ a pervasive lack of empathy for other human beings with Hilter and Hussein ordering the execution of their own relatives.
Psychobabble.
Jenny McCarthy’s son does NOT have autism!!!
And what kind of imbecilic, or worse, profit hungry doctor would make a drive by diagnosis on a child? I’ll tell you what kind of doctor. Notice how the doctor who did diagnose McCarthy’s son works at UCLA, the same medical facitliy that only caters to high functioning or misdiagnosed children so they can keep the research funds going……HOw deplorable! Look what’s happening here folks! Autism is becoming a fad, a sure way to make money in an industry that thrives off the autism diagnosis on NON autistic children. Think about it. If professionals keep misdiagnosing children with autism, and more and more “autistic” kids get “cured” then more and more research funds roll in and more and more confusion surrounds those who are severely autistic and are, as such, pushed to the back of the line, as colllateral damage.
Ummm… the thing about UCLA is a myth. I’ve worked with them as a low-functioning kid (no words, stim behaviors, etc.) to know that’s not the case. That’s where Lovass was for his clinical ABA programs.
And her son does show autistic behaviors in the home videos, and McCarthy does a good enough job describing the symptoms. So even if I heavily disagree with her course of action, her son is certainly autistic.
Where she is wrong as well is where she “cured” her kid. I know from experience, having been the “cured” kid. That myth was shattered in time.
Cliff
(New nickname to prevent confusion..)
RAJ: I wouldn’t be surprised if they were, would you?
Joel talked a bit about this here.
..and yes I’m an egomaniac just like the rest of us.
Btw I have a hard time saying I’m sorry. I get confused about timing and don’t know what I’m doing half the time. I apologize for the diagnosis thing.
Kev2, I appreciate your bringing up the topic. There are so many questions and disputes about diagnosis and how it is tied into the prevalence of autism, and it’s even being disputed whether or not McCarthy’s son is autistic or not. I guess we’d all have to see and spend some time with him to truly know.
Thank you again.
I think (MOI) should get your facts straight before you go bashing a mom that is just trying to save her son, Jenny never said she didn’t want her son called autistic, Holly Robinson Pete did. And since when did giving other moms hope that there is help and autism can be turned around such a bad thing?
I agree with chasity, people should stop bashing Jenny McCarthy for trying to give other moms hope.
As a matter of fact, I am the mother of a child on the spectrum and he’s been on a dairy free diet for months now just like Jenny’s son, I pulled the dairy from his diet long before she even came out and started speaking about her son.All I can say is that within a week of not being on dairy , he stopped repeating himself, so people shouldn’t bash her for coming out and talking about this.
Thank You
Someone commented above about the headline on People magazine, they obviously overestimate the control a subject of a story has on the media outlet who writes and promotes the story.
Anyway, echoing another poster, if the spectrum is defined broadly enough, everyone is on it. I “tuned out” of mainstream media starting about 1990-1995, so I really don’t know much of Jenny from “direct” observation. However, it takes a certain kind of warped personality to stand directly in that bright a publicity spotlight for that long, certainly less than 1 in 150 do so.
My favorite quote on life in general comes from Kim Peek (the real Rain Man): “Everybody is different.” Hearing that from him puts a big kink in the underlying fabric of the “all men are created equal” society.
What an interesting title to this, caught my eye and had to check it out. I saw a flyer recently where Jenny is the guest speaker and a parent to a child with autism, so guess she is still using that. She was obviously different on all the shows. I remember when I got a TACA newsletter long ago and it mentioned she would be at the picnic and I thought who is she? I looked around and found her Indigo site, which disappeared before her book was finished.
You mean you didn’t KNOW Jenny McCarthy?!? How DARE you not pay attention to B-rated actresses/Playboy bunnies! For shame!
Cliff
Autism is a disorder that is generally inherited by a sibling from the paternal father. As such it would be logical to conclude that Jenny McCarthy’s son acquired autism from his paternal father. Since Ms. McCarthy has a sense of humor and seems to understand sarcasm, I would highly doubt that she too suffers from autism. I’m an autistic female and I know that in my case, my father shares some autistic qualities and that autism does run in my mother’s family as well. However, my mother does not suffer from Asperger’s autism.
Funny, because in *my* family, autism comes from my mother’s side. My mom has Asperger’s too. We all understand sarcasm and have a great sense of humour, by the way.
Beyond that, I don’t give a whit about whether or not Jenny is or is not autistic. Even if she is, I doubt she *suffers* from it.
When my son was diagnosed, my husband set out to better understand autism. After reading for about an hour, he turned to me with an exasperated look and announced what I already knew, “Damn, I’m autistic!” I snickered. At that time, it was comforting to me to “blame” what I was looking at as a terrible diagnosis, on my husband’s genetics. Since my time of “grieving” I have come to much better terms with my son’s diagnosis and was able to see some other things much clearer. I have traits myself.
This woman at work, late 40’s. She had heart issues as a child. I guess she still has some cardiac issues. While we all love her, she’s one of those people you avoid striking up conversation with because she’ll go on and on. One day, it hit me like a ton of bricks…she’s AS!! Undiagnosed, I’m sure…but it’s there.
Speaking of Holly Robinson Pete, I saw when she was on Oprah with Jenny. I know a lot of people think it’s the vaccines that are making our kids develop Autism. Well what I wanted to bring up is Holly has twins one was diagnosed with Autism and the other wasn’t, and I’m sure they were taken to the doctor to receive vacinnes at the same time. Funny how they don’t bring up that fact. Even with Jenny, I’ve heard her say her son showed some signs before the vaccines.
Jenny, Jenny, Jenny.
It’s ONE thing to want to share an inspiring story like Monica’s to the world because SHE is the amazing one, NOT YOU. How does making hypocrital stereotypical comments about men on Oprah’s show help your cause??
Didn’t Jim add a chapter in your little “warrior” book on that you SHOULDN’T say things like “a good man is hard to find..” Are you SERIOUS Jenny McCarthy???? “There’s not too many real men”?? Have you watched the news about these bitches abandoning their kids, and OH, let’s NOT forget the Casey Anthony ’s of the world and the numbers of these brain-dead females are GROWING. Oh and remeber YOUR wild days of the 1990’s, you bleached headed floozy??? Using your sons preposed autism to snipe at men?? Stupid bitch. You haven’t had much of a career, you act like some hyper-active moron anyway, now you can basicly add outright IDIOT. Of course we all know how stupid that brown bean-bag Oprah is, the ONLY decent thing she’s done is endorse Obama.
All mom’s are “warriors” huh?? Well, someone tell the Casey Anthonys of the world ” it’s ok to kill your kid because Jenny’s dumb ass supports you!”
Oh, OF COURSE I can’t forget these self-centered so-called “independent” materialistic gold-digging females who only want to be with a man when he’s got MONEY and use their bodies to minipulate and get what they want crying like Jenny about a “good man” then dogging him out at her leasure.
Way to go Jenny McCarthy you’re still a worthless fake hypocritical nobody.