Ore Oduba broke down on Tuesday after confirming he has been diagnosed with ADHD – the same condition his late sister battled for years before taking their own life.
The former Strictly Come Dancing winner revealed he was diagnosed with the neurodevelopmental condition, understood to affect more than 2.5 million people across the United Kingdom, just two weeks ago.
Appearing on ADHD podcast Beyond The Label, Oduba, 39, admitted to feeling an overwhelming sense of relief in finally being able to understand the obsessive characteristic traits he had exhibited for most of his life.
He said: ‘I’ve always known there are behaviours I have gone about – I love things being in a certain way, and they’ve been normal to me and I’ve known they would be completely abnormal to other people, in fact to the point where I go “I think this could be annoying for other people.”
‘But I’ve always just had it as the way that I manage things, and that’s been OK. It’s just been a case of not necessarily showing it outwardly, and so I guess even in the last few weeks there are examples, just doing something where I go, “Oh my God, that’s ADHD in full flow.”’
He added: ‘Getting diagnosed with ADHD has allowed me, even in the last two weeks, a kind of language for myself that I always knew my entire life but never understood, and that makes sense.’
Ore Oduba broke down on Tuesday after confirming he has been diagnosed with ADHD – the same condition his late sister battled for years before taking their own life
Currently taking the lead role in a stage version of Young Frankenstein at Manchester’s Hope Mill theatre, Oduba believes the condition – characterised by a combination if inattentiveness and extreme focus – has been beneficial to his work as a performer.
‘Some of the symptoms translate a lot to what being successful is in the performing arts, and being onstage,’ he said.
‘It works wonderfully for learning choreography, or learning a script, or learning scene work, because we’ve got three weeks to put this thing together, and we completely obsess over that one thing to the point where there isn’t time to get it right in normal settings.’
Oduba also recalled late sister Lola’s battle with the condition before tragically taking their own life aged 37 in April.
The TV personality previously admitted that his sister, who was non-binary, had ‘spent many years struggling to understand who they were and why they were, and in the last five years or so, compounded by a number of difficult life events, battled daily with emotional, psychological and in the end a lot of physical turmoil.’
Recalling her initial diagnosis, he said: ‘My sister had been searching for years for this diagnosis, and eventually got diagnosed with autism ADHD, and for them it just explained… you know, my sister explained just a little what they were going through, but for them it explained a whole lifetime of behaviour, a whole lifetime of wiring and mapping.’
Lola, a former Guardian journalist and trained chef who once appeared on an episode of Come Dine with Me, revealed in a heartbreaking farewell letter that they had begun to ‘identify as non-binary’ following a period of troubles.
And Oduba struggled to hold back tears while reading aloud one of two poems left by his sister, a figurative piece centred on her mental health struggles.
Oduba broke down as he read a poem written by his sister before her tragic death in April
Oduba previously revealed his late sister Lola (pictured) identified as non-binary, using they/them pronouns, in the ‘latter years’ of their life
Reading from his phone, the TV personality’s voice broke as he worked his way through each verse of the poem – which ended with the poignant sign off, ‘I’m tired’
‘Powered by a motor, running electric, a deep hum of a refrigerator, constant, unceasing,’ read one line.
‘Light flicks on when you open the door, a clever little switch, but my light, it’s always on.’
Reading from his phone, the TV personality’s voice broke as he worked his way through each verse of the poem – which ended with the poignant sign off, ‘I’m tired.’
Appearing on ITV1 show ITV Loose Women in September, Oduba said he feels determined to live a fuller, braver life in Lola’s honour.
‘I feel finally now able to live a version of my life that’s going to get me through the rest of it because I know sadly my sister who took their life was unable to do it in their time,’ he said.
‘I will speak about my sister until my dying day. I am grateful to be in a place where I can share that.’
If you have been affected by anything in this article, call the ADHD helpline on 0800 55 44 33 or Samaritans on 116 123.
Oduba admitted to feeling an overwhelming sense of relief in finally being able to understand the obsessive characteristic traits he had exhibited for most of his life
