Editing Gene Tierney (section)

===Health===
Tierney had reportedly started smoking after a screening of her first movie to lower her voice, because she felt that she sounded "like an angry [[Minnie Mouse]]."<ref name="gene"/> She subsequently became a heavy smoker.<ref name="gene">{{cite web| url=http://www.cmgww.com/stars/tierney/about/bio.htm| title=Biography|website=Gene Tierney The Official Web Site| access-date=February 1, 2012| url-status=dead| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120207111220/http://www.cmgww.com/stars/tierney/about/bio.htm| archive-date=February 7, 2012}}</ref>

[[File:Gene Tierney - AAFPOABrief.jpg|thumb|Pin-up photo in [[World War II]] magazine ''Brief'']]
Tierney struggled for years with episodes of [[manic depression]]. In 1943, she gave birth to a daughter, Daria, who was deaf and mentally disabled due to [[congenital rubella syndrome]].<ref>{{cite web |last=Kuperberg |first=Clara and Julia |year=2016 |title=Gene Tierney - Hollywood's Vergessener Star |url=https://www.arte.tv/de/videos/117725-000-A/gene-tierney-hollywoods-vergessener-star/ |access-date=2024-02-27 |website=[[Arte]] |language=de}}{{dead link|date=April 2025}}</ref><ref name="bbc"/> In 1953, she suffered problems with concentration, which affected her film appearances. She dropped out of ''[[Mogambo]]'' and was replaced by [[Grace Kelly]].<ref name="selfportrait"/>{{page needed|date=January 2014}} While playing Anne Scott in ''[[The Left Hand of God]]'' (1955), opposite [[Humphrey Bogart]], Tierney had a relapse. Bogart's sister Frances (known as Pat) had suffered from mental illness, so he showed Tierney great sympathy, feeding her lines during the production and encouraging her to seek help.<ref name="selfportrait"/>

Tierney consulted a psychiatrist and was admitted to Harkness Pavilion in New York. Later, she went to [[the Institute of Living]] in [[Hartford, Connecticut]]. After some 27 [[Electroconvulsive therapy|shock treatments]], intended to alleviate severe depression, Tierney fled the facility, but was caught and returned. She later became an outspoken opponent of shock treatment therapy, claiming it had destroyed significant portions of her memory.<ref>{{cite news |last=Marion |first=Jane |date=2022-11-22 |title=ECT is Coming Out of the Shadows as a Lifesaving Treatment for Mental Illness |url=https://www.baltimoremagazine.com/section/health/ect-electroconvulsive-therapy-severe-mental-illness-treatment-baltimore-hospitals/ |access-date=2024-10-29 |magazine=[[Baltimore (magazine)|Baltimore]] |language=en-US |df=mdy-all}}</ref>

In late December 1957, Tierney, at her mother's apartment in Manhattan, stepped onto a ledge 14 stories above ground and remained for about 20 minutes in what was considered a suicide attempt.<ref name="ledge">{{cite news |url=http://people.com/archive/gene-tierney-began-her-trip-back-from-madness-on-a-ledge-14-floors-above-the-street-vol-11-no-18/ |first=Kent |last=Demaret |title=Gene Tierney Began Her Trip Back from Madness on a Ledge 14 Floors Above the Street |magazine=[[People (magazine)|People]] |date=May 7, 1979 |access-date=January 18, 2017}}</ref> Police were called, and afterwards, Tierney's family arranged for her to be admitted to the [[Menninger Foundation|Menninger Clinic]] in [[Topeka, Kansas]]. The following year, after treatment for [[Major depressive disorder|depression]], she was discharged. Afterwards, she worked as a sales girl in a local dress shop with hopes of integrating back into society.<ref name="ledge"/> A Topeka newspaper reported on her employment status, which gained national attention.<ref>{{cite news |last=Hrenchir |first=Tim |title=History Guy: Movie star who spent time in Topeka was born 100 years ago |url=https://www.cjonline.com/story/news/local/2020/11/19/history-guy-movie-star-who-spent-time-in-topeka-was-born-100-years-ago/43166763/ |date=November 18, 2020 |access-date=2025-04-09 |newspaper=[[The Topeka Capital-Journal]] |language=en-US |df=mdy-all}}</ref>

Later in 1958, 20th Century Fox offered Tierney a lead role in ''[[Holiday for Lovers]]'' (1959), but the stress upon her proved too great, so only days into production, she dropped out of the film and returned to Menninger for a time.<ref name="ledge"/>