Ten Celebs With Diabetes

Following Paula Deen’s acknowledgment that she suffers from Type 2 diabetes, there’s been a lot of attention paid to the Southern chef and her role in promoting high-fat cooking that is liable to lead to that diagnosis. But Deen is far from the only celebrity who’s dealing with diabetes. Here are ten who have real-life experience with this life-threatening illness. And whether they’re Type 1 diabetics (diagnosed early in life and dependent on insulin) or Type 2 diabetics (diagnosed later on, often with a history of obesity or poor diet, and not necessarily dependent on insulin), these stars have learned how to take charge of their health.

Halle Berry

Berry, 45, is a Type 1 diabetic; the condition, usually diagnosed in children and young adults, is also known as juvenile diabetes. She remained undiagnosed until age 23, when she went into a diabetic coma while on the set of the TV show “Living Dolls.” Berry has been open about her condition and has been a volunteer for the Juvenile Diabetes Association. But she alarmed diabetes experts when she said she had managed to wean herself off insulin. Physicians were quick to criticize the message, because there is no cure for diabetes, and Type 1 diabetics, unlike Type 2 (adult onset) diabetics, can never stop taking insulin.

Delta Burke Burke, who’s most familiar as Suzanne Sugarbaker in the 1980s TV series “Designing Women,” kept her weight down when she was Miss Florida. But her weight went up during that time. And in the early 1990s, post-“Designing Women,” she underwent very public battles with suffering from depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and Type 2 diabetes. Today, Burke, 55, has gotten her condition under control.

Bret Michaels The Poison lead singer and “Celebrity Apprentice” winner isn’t as carefree as his onstage persona suggests. At age six , Michaels, now 48, was diagnosed with diabetes, and he works hard to maintain his health: He takes four insulin injections and gives himself eight blood tests every day. He also is diligent about raising awareness of the illness: Michaels’ website has a section on diabetes, and he pledged his $250,000 “Apprentice” award to the American Diabetes Association.

Randy Jackson Ten years ago, the “American Idol” judge, 55, learned that he had type 2 diabetes. At the time, Jackson, who loved the savory but high-fat cooking of his native Louisiana. Jackson, who lost more than 100 pounds after gastic-bypass surgery, is focused on managing his condition through medicines and diet. “Food is for nutrition now,” he says.

Mary Tyler Moore Moore is almost as well known for her diabetes activism as for her role as Mary Richards on “The Mary Tyler Moore Show.” And those two facts are inexorably intertwined. Moore, 75, was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes at age 33, just as she was starting the show. Unfortunately, Moore acknowledged in an interview with USA Today, she continued her life of drinking and smoking and didn’t do a lot of what she needed to do about her diabetes. "I've always been independent," she said in the interview. "I've always had courage. But I didn't always own my diabetes." Now, she’s shaped up for good. She’s vigilant about taking her insulin and maintaining her healthy diet. Today, she’s the international chairwoman of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation.

Jean Smart Like her Designing Women castmate Delta Burke, Smart, now appearing on the television series "Harry’s Law," is a diabetic. But unlike Burke, Smart, 60, suffers from Type 1 diabetes. She was diagnosed at age 13. She didn’t let that stop her, and went on to have success in both theater and TV. She also is the ambassador for the Entertainment Industry’s Diabetes Aware.

Mike Huckabee The former Arkansas governor and contender for the 2008 Republican presidential nomination, 56, was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. He lost 110 pounds and was so religious about controlling his condition that he actually reversed it (a possibility with type 2 diabetes, though not with type 1.) He even wrote a book about his new health habits – called, with typical Huckabee bluntness, “Quit Diggin’ Your Grave With A Knife And Fork.”

Sherri Shepherd "The View" co-host, 44, was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes, just before she began her stint on the ABC talk show in 2007. Shepherd had always worried about getting diabetes, since her mother died from it at age 41. Despite her own diagnosis, Shepherd persisted in eating harmful food until, she said, “I could hear God saying, ‘It doesn’t have to be what happened with your mom.’” Since then, she has lost close to 100 pounds, changed her eating habits and become vocal in raising diabetes awareness among African-Americans, who are more liable than Caucasians to get diabetes.

Drew Carey Carey, 53, has always seemed like a guy’s guy. So when the crew-cut ex-Marine found out he had type 2 diabetes, he manned up and lost 80 pounds in 2010. Telling interviewers that he focused on a diet of egg whites, fruit and Greek yogurt, the host of "The Price Is Right" also claimed to have reversed his diabetes – a rare though not impossible goal.

Aida Turturro Best known for playing the evil Janice Soprano on “The Sopranos,” Turturro, 49, acknowledges that she didn’t take care of herself after her 2001 diagnosis of Type 2 diabes. Two years later, her condition got worse, and she was forced to start taking care of herself if she wanted to survive. She’s using that life lesson to try to help others. In an interview, she said, “I want to urge people not taking care of themselves to go to their doctor, go to their nutritionist, learn the basics, and start taking care of themselves. You need to be not just managing the disease, but taking charge.”