The Bipolar Rock 'N' Roller Documentary

Originally premiered on SHOWTIME during Mental Health Awareness Month in May 2018, this amazing documentary Bipolar Rock 'N' Roller has been made available to the public on YouTube since the summer of 2019. It should be required viewing for everyone to better understand mental health issues.

In May of 2018, SHOWTIME boldly released a powerful documentary highlighting the life and career of Mauro Ranallo, a famous Canadian sports announcer and commentator that struggles with bipolar affective disorder.

The brilliant documentary explores Ranallo’s life and career, including his work on the two biggest pay-per-view events in television history, as well as his relentless pursuit of a childhood dream despite seemingly impossible odds. It also exposes Ranallo's daily struggle living with bipolar and how that affects his relationships and work.

WATCH BIPOLAR ROCK 'N' ROLLER BELOW

Ranallo was diagnosed with bipolar disorder, also known as manic depressive disorder, when he was 19-years-old. The mental illness was seemingly triggered after Ranallo's close friend died of a heart attack at a very young age. "I would go through these unbelievable mood swings. I never attempted suicide, but I have had suicidal thoughts. The biggest challenge is there are many days I feel like a fraud," Ranallo recounted in 2015. In 2016, Mauro shared his story for the first time on stage. He said, "On a daily basis for most of my adult life, there has been a fight going on in this space between the ears, and at times, the fight as told me to 'Take your life, Mauro. You are a fraud. So for many years of my life, I wanted to end it. And every day that I woke up, I looked at the light, the chandelier, in my bedroom wondering if it could hold my body weight." Furthermore, Ranallo has been very open about this for many years and wants to continue being an advocate to end the stigma attached to mental illness. He even said, "Not talking about mental illness is killing people. We need to stop that. Mental illness may be a life sentence for a lot of us, but it does not have to be a death sentence."

Mauro Ranallo currently works on commentary for World Wrestling Entertainment as part of the NXT brand. He has provided so much talent and expertise to the company, but the large amount of attention from viewers and social media have triggered his bipolar quite often. It has really helped to highlight his condition and to continue the discussion about mental illness that Ranallo believes we need to be doing more. Please take some time to watch this documentary. It will not only help you to better understand the very real and deep struggle of one man, but it will also challenge your thinking of mental illness across the board.