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Eddie Murphy might be one of the most famous comedians in the entertainment industry today, but even he has is not immune from an occasional struggle with mental health. In his new Netflix documentary, Being Eddie, the 64-year-old comic issued some rare comments about his struggles with OCD growing up, even when he wasn’t entirely sure what the disease was. “I used to have that OCD when I was a kid,” Murphy states in the new documentary (via People). “I didn’t know what it was. I would go and check the stove in the kitchen and make sure all the gas was off in the kitchen.” “And I’d lay down for about, you know, five minutes, and I would get back up and go back in the kitchen and look at the stove again and check all the gas, and then I’d go back in the bed and lay there for about five, 10 minutes and then get back up and go look at it and look at the stove and make sure all the gas was off,” Murphy continues. “Then go back to bed, lay there for another 10 minutes and get back — and this went on for maybe like an hour. And I did that every night,” the actor adds. “Every night. And I’d just say, ‘That’s just some weird s**t that I do.’ My mother, nobody knew this was going on.” Only when he finally learned what OCD was did Murphy realize he likely had it, prompting to forcefully fight his impulses. “When I saw that it was like some mental illness s**t, I made myself stop doing it,” Murphy says. “I was like, ‘I’m not — I’m not doing it no more. I thought I was weird. I ain’t know I had some mental illness. F**k that. I ain’t have no mental illness. Mental illness, my ass.’ And I forced myself to stop doing it.” As much of a challenge as it was back then, Murphy revealed that he continues to OCD-like tendencies into the present day, often causing him to check himself whenever he feels the symptoms returning. “I check the gas every night, still. But every now and then, I’ll check it twice, and say ‘No, motherf—er, you ain’t starting that s— again. Take your ass to bed,” Murphy says, laughing.
