Wednesday, March 12, 2008
Shelley Beattie Committed Suicide After Suffering from Bipolar Disorder
Shelley Beattie was an inspiration to the deaf community, overcoming her disability to become a professional bodybuilder, a television personality and a competitive sailor.
"The only thing I can't do is hear," she used to say.
Beattie could speak clearly, despite losing her hearing as a child after an accidental overdose of aspirin.
Last month she discovered one other thing she couldn't do: live with bipolar disorder. While under a doctor's care during a six-week stay at a psychiatric hospital, she took her own life.
It was a tragic ending for a young woman, just 39, who had achieved so much.
"If it can defeat a strong person like her," said her father, Jack Beattie of Keizer, "it can defeat almost anybody."
People with bipolar disorder, also known as manic depression, tend to experience extreme mood swings or episodes.
Beattie once described it to her life partner, Julie Moisa, as waking up in the morning and feeling better than she had her whole life, only to be consumed by feelings of rage and darkness within just a few hours.
An estimated 5.7 million adults in the U.S. have bipolar disorder, according to the National Institute of Mental Health. As many as 50 percent who suffer from the illness attempt suicide, and as many as 20 percent succeed.
Beattie was diagnosed about 10 years ago, according to her mother, Laura Mitchell of Sublimity. That was about the time Beattie returned to Oregon, leaving her "Hollywood" career behind.
She eventually settled in the Salem area and met Moisa about four years ago, through a mutual friend. They lived together on a farm east of town, a place where Beattie was able to find some peace despite her illness.
She loved her animals, raising turkeys and chickens and bottle-feeding baby calves. She loved her artwork, creating many Native American-style pieces. Though not of Indian heritage, she connected to the Lakota lifestyle and had a passion for playing drums she made with her own hands.
That life was much different than her celebrity life, in a good way.
Some people might know Beattie the bodybuilder. She was the 1990 U.S. champion and placed third in the 1992 IFBB Ms. Olympia competition. Beattie was once married to
John Romano, who is now a writer for Muscular Development Magazine. She was rumored to be the subject of several of his insider columns on living with a top level female bodybuilder.
Beattie grew up in Monmouth-Independence and graduated from Central High School in 1985. She enrolled at what was then Western Oregon State College, studying special education and psychology.
More people might know Beattie as Siren on the original "American Gladiators" TV series. She appeared on the show, which matched the gladiators against amateur athletes in contests of strength and agility, from 1992 to 1996.
"When I first met her, I didn't know what a gladiator was," Moisa said. "I had no idea about the magazine covers."
Beattie was never one to boast about her accomplishments, but there was one that she held dear.
She was chosen to be on the history-making all-female America's Cup sailing team, which raced against all-male crews in 1995 and beat some.
"That's what she was most proud of," her mom said.
Source: Statesman Journal
