My diagnosis saved my life

Singer-songwriter and social-media star Rox Pink on ADHD — in her own words

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Were you to be teaching a masterclass on remarketing you could choose few more successful case studies than Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). When most of us were growing up, it was generally considered the sole preserve of naughty little boys who couldn't sit still in the classroom. Now it’s everywhere, with countless actors, writers, singers and especially comedians sharing recent diagnoses, and social media abuzz with ADHD-friendly cleaning routines that show us how we can still have a perfect home even if we have ADHD, and how it is the ultimate superpower.

Indeed, the image has become so positively charged that many consider it has been overly romanticised and made almost into some kind of status symbol. But as new figures from the NHS show that almost 2.5 million people in the UK could have the condition, we ask, what is it really like to be living with ADHD?

We meet Rox Pink, better known as one half of ADHD Love, where she and husband Rich give a raw and unfiltered view of life with the condition. A successful singer-songwriter (under the name RØRY) as well as a social-media hit with more than 2.5 million followers, Rox went viral when she made a video about forgetting to put in a tampon in 2022. Hers is a world of forgotten, stinking laundry, missed appointments, time blindness, endless scrolling... and joy. We caught up during her recent music tour to find out what life can really be like for someone with ADHD, behind the cameras.

'I was a classic undiagnosed ADHD kid. I was a problem child, bad memory, not very good at school work, always losing things, messy room. It was back in the 1990s, and as a girl that was not how ADHD was considered. We knew the phrase ADHD, but there was just not a chance you're going to be seen that way as a girl. So instead, I was a problem kid.