Japanese actress Ryoko Hirosue to suspend activities after bipolar diagnosis
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Ryoko Hirosue’s suspension comes after a string of bad press for the star.
PHOTO: RYOKO_HIROSUE_OFFICIAL/INSTAGRAM
Weeks after allegedly assaulting a nurse, Japanese actress Ryoko Hirosue has announced that she will suspend all entertainment activities to focus on her health issues.
An official website for the 44-year-old star posted a notice on May 2 explaining that Hirosue has been receiving treatment at a hospital in Tokyo after she was released from police custody on April 16.
She was arrested on April 8 for allegedly attacking a nurse at the hospital she was taken to following a car accident.
The notice, put up by Hirosue’s self-founded agency R.H., said she has been diagnosed with bipolar disorder, a mental health condition characterised by extreme mood swings. She was also diagnosed with hyperthyroidism, which can lead to unintended weight loss and heart palpitations.
“We deeply regret how Hirosue and the people around her dismissed her illness and suffering as simply ‘poor health’. She will now take a break from entertainment activities, and focus on her mental and physical health for the time being,” the agency said.
It added that the disclosure of Hirosue’s illness was not to escape accountability for her legal troubles. The agency also said: “We will continue to sincerely cooperate with the police in their investigations.”
The suspension comes after a string of bad press for the star, who rose to fame in the 1990s with TV series such as Beach Boys (1997) and Sekai De Ichiban Papa Ga Suki (I Love My Dad More Than Anything In The World, 1998). She has also starred in films such as the Oscar-winning Departures (2008).
Aside from the alleged assault, Hirosue was exposed in June 2023 by Japanese tabloids for an extramarital affair with Japanese chef Shusaku Toba, 46. She announced her divorce from her husband, Japanese candle artist Jun Izutsu, 51, a month later.
Hirosue and Izutsu have a son, 14, and a daughter, nine. She also has a 21-year-old son from her first marriage to Japanese designer Takahiro Okazawa, 49.
The scandal caused her then-agency Flamme, which had represented her for 25 years, to suspend her activities indefinitely. They parted ways in February 2024, and she set up her agency R.H.
