Simon Pegg’s ADHD diagnosis exposes why the condition is missed in adults

The actor says his diagnosis helped explain years of struggles he had blamed on personal failings, as experts outline why ADHD often goes unrecognised until adulthood.

Simon Pegg has said a recent attention deficit hyperactivity disorder diagnosis helped explain a number of long-running struggles he had once treated as personal failings.

The 56-year-old British actor, best known for “Hot Fuzz” and “Shaun Of The Dead”, discussed the diagnosis on the podcast “I’m ADHD! No You’re Not”. He said the process took time after a period of uncertainty, but ultimately made sense of difficulties he had carried for years. Pegg said it “confirmed a lot of stuff that I had been wrestling with” and added that he had previously blamed himself for symptoms that he now believes were part of ADHD.

Pegg’s experience reflects a wider pattern seen by clinicians who work with adults. Dr Asif Bachlani, an adult and neurodevelopmental consultant psychiatrist at Cygnet Group private services, says ADHD is often overlooked in childhood because parents, teachers and routines can provide enough structure to hide problems with planning, focus and organisation. As children grow into adulthood and lose that external support, the condition can become harder to manage and more obvious in daily life, particularly when people take on new responsibilities such as marriage, a new job or parenthood.

Bachlani says later diagnosis is also common because many people do not fit the stereotypical image of ADHD. Inattentive symptoms, disorganisation and mental restlessness can be easier to miss than obvious hyperactivity, especially in people who are academically capable or outwardly high-functioning. He says girls and women are particularly likely to be missed because the condition is often less disruptive on the surface and may not resemble the familiar picture of a restless boy unable to sit still.

Many adults also develop coping strategies that conceal their difficulties. Bachlani says habits such as doodling, fidgeting with small objects or building rigid routines can help people get by for years without a diagnosis. Over time, however, those workarounds can fail to keep pace with life’s demands, and awareness of that gap is one reason more adults are now seeking assessments. He points to the growing visibility of ADHD in the public conversation, including discussions by celebrities and on social media, as another factor behind the rise in adult diagnoses.

Family experience can play a part as well. Bachlani says some parents only recognise their own traits after their child is assessed for ADHD and they hear a clinician describe behaviours that feel uncomfortably familiar. That moment of recognition, combined with greater public understanding, has made adult diagnosis more common than it once was. Other mental health discussions of late-diagnosed ADHD also describe the mix of relief and grief that can follow, as people realise the condition was present all along but went unrecognised.