Em Rusciano has shared raw details about she previously struggled to balance her high-profile career, parenthood and undiagnosed ADHD at the beginning of her career.
Em, 43, who rose to fame on Australian Idol before working in TV, cabaret, stand-up comedy and podcasting told Sydney Morning Herald columnist Peter FitzSimons on Sunday, she would suffer existential crises at night.
‘At times, I’d be crying myself to sleep at 2am questioning, ‘What am I doing with my life? Should I just go and get a regular job? Are my kids OK?” she confessed.
Em Rusciano, 43, (pictured) has shared raw details about she previously struggled to balance her high-profile career, parenthood and undiagnosed ADHD at the beginning of her career
EM, also spoke about her recent ADHD diagnosis, saying she felt a weight lift from her shoulders after realising she was ‘wired differently’ to others.
‘I’ve spent my life trying to figure out how to be like everyone else and I exhausted myself pretending to be different versions of myself,’ she said.
‘And then when I found out that my brain was in fact wired a different way, it was a relief to realise it wasn’t because I was a bad or inadequate person. I was just different.’
Em who rose to fame on Australian Idol before working in TV, cabaret, stand-up comedy and podcasting told Sydney Morning Herald columnist Peter FitzSimons on Sunday, she would suffer existential crises at night
‘At times, I’d be crying myself to sleep at 2am questioning, ‘What am I doing with my life? Should I just go and get a regular job? Are my kids OK?” she confessed
Em said she wishes she’d been diagnosed earlier in life, but noted that if she had, her career may not have been as successful.
It comes after Em spoke to the National Press Club where she called on the government to add ADHD to the NDIS.
ADHD, also known as attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, was recognised as a disability in 1992 under the Disability Discrimination Act, but is not included in the list of conditions covered by the NDIS.
Em said she wishes she’d been diagnosed earlier in life, but noted that if she had, her career may not have been as successful
On Monday, Em shared a video of herself complaining about how she struggles to cope when things don’t go her way
‘ADHD needs to be included in the NDIS as a primary disability,’ she said during her speech in Canberra.
Rusciano said one in 20 Australians has ADHD, but women often go undiagnosed because the symptoms are more noticeable in young boys.
‘I associated it with hyperactive 10-year-old boys who should avoid red cordial, certainly not 42-year-old anxiety-ridden adult women who are chronically exhausted all of the time,’ she said.
Elsewhere in her speech at the National Press Club, Rusciano revealed that working in breakfast radio brought out the ‘worst’ of her then-undiagnosed ADHD
‘I felt a deep sadness for that precocious, curious and chaotic 10-year-old girl who desperately wanted to get things right, the girl who tried hard all the time, and who just wanted to be like everyone else.’
Elsewhere in her speech, Rusciano revealed that working in breakfast radio brought out the ‘worst’ of her then-undiagnosed ADHD.
‘I know now that a person with rejection sensitivity dysphoria, low self-esteem, time blindness, someone who is very blunt, has a complete inability to regulate her emotions, and is hypersensitive to external stimuli should be nowhere near the breakfast radio environment,’ she said.
‘It brought out the very worst of my undiagnosed ADHD symptoms. It brought out the worst in me as a human.’
Em’s son Elio (left) has been diagnosed with autism, and Em is currently exploring her own autism after coming out as having it too
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