Actress Kim Basinger has revealed she 'wouldn't leave the house', after her agoraphobia worsened in recent years. WireImage
Actress Kim Basinger has revealed she 'wouldn't leave the house', after her agoraphobia worsened in recent years. WireImage
Actress Kim Basinger has revealed she 'wouldn't leave the house', after her agoraphobia worsened in recent years. WireImage
Actress Kim Basinger has revealed she 'wouldn't leave the house', after her agoraphobia worsened in recent years. WireImage

Kim Basinger says agoraphobia left her a recluse: ‘I had to learn to drive again'


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Oscar-winning actress Kim Basinger sat down with Jada Pinkett-Smith this week to reveal the agoraphobia which left her housebound for the past few years.

Basinger, 68, appeared on Pinkett-Smith’s award-winning chat show, Red Table Talk, to share her experience of the condition, which she says left her nervous, anxious, and unable to remember how to perform simple tasks.

Kim Basinger, who won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress for her role in 'LA Confidential', has spoken frankly about the agoraphobia which turned her into a recluse. AFP
Kim Basinger, who won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress for her role in 'LA Confidential', has spoken frankly about the agoraphobia which turned her into a recluse. AFP

“I wouldn’t leave the house. I would no longer go to dinner,” Basinger said. Adding of her experience with the condition, she said that it was “like something just completely shuts down within you and you have to relearn everything.”

Appearing on the show alongside her daughter Ireland, who she shares with ex-husband Alec Baldwin, the LA Confidential actress said she had “a dry mouth all the time” and was “very shaky.”

“You’re just so exhausted all the time,” she said.

What is agoraphobia?

According to the NHS website: “Agoraphobia is a fear of being in situations where escape might be difficult or that help wouldn't be available if things go wrong.”

Revealing that those who suffer from the condition can become afraid of leaving their home or visiting a mall, the website states: "Many people assume agoraphobia is simply a fear of open spaces, but it’s actually a more complex condition. If someone with agoraphobia finds themselves in a stressful situation, they'll usually experience the symptoms of a panic attack.”

‘I had to learn to drive again’

Calling the symptoms of the condition “really horrible”, Basinger revealed that she became nervous of being out in public.

“Everything used to make me nervous, like the glass [sliding] to open the door or ‘Where do I step to open the door?’” she said. “Everything became a big job to figure out how to do it.”

She added: “I had to relearn to drive, and for many years I would not go through the tunnels at Malibu.”

It’s not the first time the star has spoken about the life-changing disorder. In the 2001 HBO documentary Panic, the 8 Mile actress shared insights into how agoraphobia and anxiety have affected her life.

"Fear has been something I’ve lived with my entire life; the fear of being in public places — which led to anxiety or panic attacks,” she said. “I stayed in my house and literally cried every day.”

Here are 5 more stars who have talked about living with agoraphobia…

1. Emma Stone

Actress Emma Stone has discussed the anxiety disorders she suffered as a child and continues to battle. AFP
Actress Emma Stone has discussed the anxiety disorders she suffered as a child and continues to battle. AFP

The Oscar-winning actress has been candid about her struggle with anxiety growing up.

“I had massive anxiety as a child,” she told Glamour. “I was in therapy. From eight to 10, I was borderline agoraphobic. I could not leave my mom's side. I don't really have panic attacks anymore, but I had really bad anxiety.”

2. Brian Wilson

The co-founder of The Beach Boys has suffered from an array of mental health issues, including agoraphobia, which saw him endure bad stage fright and become a recluse for many years.

3. Macaulay Culkin

“I’m a self-diagnosed agoraphobic,” the actor told New York Magazine.

Revealing that becoming famous at such a young age fed into his anxiety, he said: “You get scared of everything out there because they’re all trying to get in here.”

4. Barbra Streisand

The multi-Grammy-winning artist’s issues stemmed from her forgetting the lyrics to one of her songs on stage when she was younger. Internalising the mistake developed into an array of social anxieties, including agoraphobia.

5. Carly Simon

The songwriter has spoken about her battle with the anxiety disorder, which once left her paralysed with fright onstage in front of 10,000 fans.

“I think the whole experience of being in front of people, exposing yourself and your talent, is so unnatural,” she said.

MATCH INFO

Uefa Champions League semi-final, first leg
Bayern Munich v Real Madrid

When: April 25, 10.45pm kick-off (UAE)
Where: Allianz Arena, Munich
Live: BeIN Sports HD
Second leg: May 1, Santiago Bernabeu, Madrid

In numbers: China in Dubai

The number of Chinese people living in Dubai: An estimated 200,000

Number of Chinese people in International City: Almost 50,000

Daily visitors to Dragon Mart in 2018/19: 120,000

Daily visitors to Dragon Mart in 2010: 20,000

Percentage increase in visitors in eight years: 500 per cent

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6.30pm Maiden Dh165,000 (Dirt) 1,600m

7.05pm Conditions Dh240,000 (D) 1,600m

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10pm Handicap Dh185,000 (D) 1,400m

 

The National selections

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10pm Midnight Sands

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Biography

Favourite book: Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance

Holiday choice: Anything Disney-related

Proudest achievement: Receiving a presidential award for foreign services.

Family: Wife and three children.

Like motto: You always get what you ask for, the universe listens.

A timeline of the Historical Dictionary of the Arabic Language
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  • November 2021: First 17 volumes launched 
  • November 2022: Additional 19 volumes released
  • October 2023: Another 31 volumes released
  • November 2024: All 127 volumes completed
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Transmission: eight-speed automatic

Power: 258hp at 5,000-6,500rpm

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Fuel economy, combined: 6.4L/100km

Price, base: from D215,000 (Dh230,000 as tested)

On sale: now

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  • The Foreign Ministry launched a review to determine how authorities failed to detect the posts before her entry
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How many games the top 10 have undertaken in the 2017 ATP season

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2. Andy Murray 35 (25-10)

3. Roger Federer 38 (35-3)

4. Stan Wawrinka 37 (26-11)

5. Novak Djokovic 40 (32-8)

6. Alexander Zverev 60 (46-14)

7. Marin Cilic 43 (29-14)

8. Dominic Thiem 60 (41-19)

9. Grigor Dimitrov 48 (34-14)

10. Kei Nishikori 43 (30-13)

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  • Singapore bt Malaysia by 29 runs
  • UAE bt Oman by 13 runs
  • Hong Kong bt Nepal by 3 wickets

Final:
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By Sean Penn
Simon & Schuster

The struggle is on for active managers

David Einhorn closed out 2018 with his biggest annual loss ever for the 22-year-old Greenlight Capital.

The firm’s main hedge fund fell 9 per cent in December, extending this year’s decline to 34 percent, according to an investor update viewed by Bloomberg.

Greenlight posted some of the industry’s best returns in its early years, but has stumbled since losing more than 20 per cent in 2015.

Other value-investing managers have also struggled, as a decade of historically low interest rates and the rise of passive investing and quant trading pushed growth stocks past their inexpensive brethren. Three Bays Capital and SPO Partners & Co., which sought to make wagers on undervalued stocks, closed in 2018. Mr Einhorn has repeatedly expressed his frustration with the poor performance this year, while remaining steadfast in his commitment to value investing.

Greenlight, which posted gains only in May and October, underperformed both the broader market and its peers in 2018. The S&P 500 Index dropped 4.4 per cent, including dividends, while the HFRX Global Hedge Fund Index, an early indicator of industry performance, fell 7 per cent through December. 28.

At the start of the year, Greenlight managed $6.3 billion in assets, according to a regulatory filing. By May, the firm was down to $5.5bn. 

Sri Lanka-India Test series schedule
  • 1st Test India won by 304 runs at Galle
  • 2nd Test India won by innings and 53 runs at Colombo
  • 3rd Test August 12-16 at Pallekele
Updated: April 27, 2022, 12:22 PM`