Famous people with asthma

Asthma can be an incredibly challenging condition to live with, but if you are among the millions who deal with it daily, this gallery was made with you in mind. While asthma can genuinely affect your day-to-day quality of life, it does not have to stand between you and your ambitions. Every person featured here refused to let the condition define or limit them. From entertainers and athletes to world leaders and historical icons, these remarkable individuals found a way to thrive in spite of their diagnosis.

Click through and get to know the stars who suffer (or have suffered) from asthma.

Pink

Pink not only lives with asthma but was also born with a collapsed lung. After contracting COVID-19, she opened up about just how serious her condition can get, describing waking in the middle of the night unable to breathe and needing her nebulizer for the first time in three decades. She admitted that the experience genuinely frightened her.

Jessica Alba

Alba has dealt with asthma since childhood and has been hospitalized on multiple occasions as a result. She has spoken candidly about how severe it was, noting that her throat would close up and that she frequently developed pneumonia, even experiencing a collapsed lung at one point.

David Beckham

Asthma was never going to stand in the way of Beckham’s sporting ambitions. He has acknowledged living with the condition for several years, experiencing both good and difficult days, while expressing hope that his openness about it might serve as an encouragement to others dealing with the same challenge.

Priyanka Chopra

The global star has been managing asthma since early childhood. She has been refreshingly open about it, once sharing that the key is getting on top of the condition before it gets on top of you — and that as long as she has her inhaler close by, nothing can hold her back.

Bono

The U2 frontman has lived with asthma for many years. In a remarkable family connection, his son Elijah Hewson is the lead singer of a band aptly named Inhaler — a name that is directly inspired by the fact that he, too, has the condition.

Sharon Stone

Stone tends to keep her health matters private, though she has shared content on Instagram demonstrating exercises designed to strengthen lung capacity.

Billy Joel

At his worst, asthma forced Billy Joel to cancel several tour dates in 1998. He reflected that while he used to push through performances regardless, he reached a point where doing so simply would not have been fair to his audiences.

Lindsay Lohan

Lohan has lived with asthma since she was young and has required hospitalization on more than one occasion. Her father has spoken about how frightening things became during her childhood, admitting there were moments when the family feared the worst.

Harry Styles

Styles has not spoken publicly about his asthma in great detail, but he has been spotted using an inhaler while performing on stage.

Diane Keaton

The actress reflected on her childhood struggles with asthma in her memoir, Then Again, offering a personal glimpse into what the condition meant for her during her early years.

Martin Scorsese

Scorsese is arguably one of the most well-known asthmatics in the film world. A serious hospitalization in 1978 brought him close to death, and although a medication reaction was the primary cause, he has acknowledged that asthma played a significant role in what happened.

Eminem

According to the rapper’s mother, Debbie Nelson, Eminem has battled respiratory issues his entire life — from childhood bouts of pneumonia to recurring throat infections such as tonsillitis, all alongside his asthma.

Liza Minnelli

The iconic singer and actress has been navigating life with asthma for a great many years, adding it to the list of challenges she has quietly managed throughout a long and celebrated career.

Meat Loaf

In 2011, during a concert in Pittsburgh, the Bat Out of Hell singer suffered an asthma attack so severe that he collapsed on stage — a stark and public reminder of just how serious the condition can be.

Dennis Rodman

One of basketball’s most colorful and unconventional figures, Rodman never allowed asthma to interfere with his pursuit of NBA greatness — and his career record speaks for itself.

Kenny G

Widely regarded as one of the finest saxophone players of his generation, Kenny G has credited the regular practice of playing a wind instrument with helping him keep his asthma under control.

Coolio

The late rapper battled asthma throughout his life. On one memorable occasion, a fan in the crowd came to his aid with an inhaler after he suffered an attack right in the middle of a live performance.

Amy Van Dyken

Rather than viewing asthma as something holding her back, the American swimmer reframed it as something that made her tougher. That mindset helped her claim six gold medals across two separate Olympic Games.

Paula Radcliffe

The celebrated British Olympic distance runner has been a vocal advocate for asthma awareness, encouraging fellow sufferers to take control through proper management and medication — with the belief that nothing, including a podium finish, needs to be out of reach.

Che Guevara

The revolutionary figure also contended with asthma as part of his daily existence, managing the condition throughout a life defined by physical hardship and relentless movement.

Che Guevara (continued)

In a telling anecdote, his mother once revealed in an interview that a Soviet doctor had prescribed him tablets for his asthma that were proving highly effective — tablets that, as she pointed out with some irony, were manufactured in the United States.

John F. Kennedy

JFK dealt with both asthma and allergies throughout his life, yet neither condition dampened his enthusiasm for sports or, ultimately, his path to the presidency.

Theodore Roosevelt

The 26th President of the United States was a well-known asthma sufferer, and his determination to overcome the physical limitations it imposed became a defining thread in his remarkable personal story.

Ludwig van Beethoven

The legendary composer is believed to have developed asthma during his teenage years, continuing to manage the condition well into adulthood — yet another obstacle that did nothing to dim one of history’s most extraordinary musical minds.