Sitting down with author and filmmaker Rosie Viva, EBIT™ debuts at END. with a conversation examining her experiences with bipolar disorder.
To view Rosie's portfolio click here
As a model, activist, filmmaker and author, Rosie Viva has many talents in her repertoire, but it is her honesty and authenticity that have proven to be among her greatest assets. Having been diagnosed with bipolar disorder in her early 20s following a psychotic episode that found her hospitalised for three months, Rosie has worked towards her own understanding of her condition through her various creative pursuits. Creating the documentary Modelling, Mania and Me for Channel 4 in 2023, she shone a light on an often-misunderstood mental health condition, chronicling her moments of hypomania and deep depression to deliver a candid and deeply affecting portrayal of living with bipolar that sought to distigmatise through cathartic expression.
Despite bipolar disorder’s status as one of the commonest long-term health conditions in the United Kingdom, the condition is little spoken about unless amongst healthcare professionals, those diagnosed and their families. Seeking to change this, Rosie followed on from her short film with her debut book, Completely Normal and Totally Fine: My Life with Bipolar Disorder, further examining her own experiences to further spotlight the condition and raise awareness for the lifetime impact that it has on those who have it.
Seeking to ignite conversations around mental health and confront how the fashion industry advocates for well-being, EBIT™ is striving to promote positive conversations and normalisation around mental health conditions. Having starred in EBIT™’s AW25 campaign “BIPOLAR/BICOLOR [E200]” earlier this year, we caught up with Rosie in East London for an editorial shoot and interview to discuss her creative practice, working with a neurodivergent condition and her recent collaborations with EBIT™.
Could you tell us who you are and what you do?
Hey! My name is Rosie Viva, and I am an author, mental health advocate, presenter, and model. I started speaking publicly about living with bipolar disorder after I struggled to find any young women in the media being open about it around my diagnosis at age 22.
Your book Completely Normal and Totally Fine was released earlier this year – what inspired you to write it?
In the first stage of confusion around my diagnosis, I turned to books, absolutely fascinated by other people’s stories. Within a few memoirs, I had already learnt so much more about the illness than through the NHS. Books made me realise how unique bipolar disorder is to each person. I learnt that it’s not a personality type, but more of a breadth to your mood and a neurodivergence.
However, all the books I read week to week were lighthearted ones that made me laugh and offered escapism. I couldn’t find any books about bipolar that captured a relatable tone, written by a girl in her twenties. My book not only covers my diagnosis but also themes such as dating and working with bipolar - it felt necessary to touch on all the questions you’re really worried about during those years of learning to manage the condition.
How did it feel to write about your personal experiences with bipolar disorder? Was it difficult to share your feelings on something you were actively experiencing?
I thought it would be easy. And sometimes, when I was writing in a high state, it really was! Hyperfocus meant that some weekends I wouldn’t leave my flat - I’d be in complete flow and write thousands of words. On other deadlines, I’d be writing in a low state, where even writing your name is difficult, let alone maintaining a fun and upbeat tone of voice. That was very challenging and would spark thoughts about what my new potential really looked like living with this.
But with Bloomsbury’s support behind me, I knew how important this book was, and something kept me chipping away every weekend. Writing about the good parts came much easier, as lifting people’s moods is something I’ve loved doing from a young age. Sharing how crippling the lows of bipolar were was much more difficult – but also extremely freeing and essential to helping others relate to my experience.
Having first created a documentary, Modelling, Mania and Me, that chronicled your experiences of bipolar before writing your book, has your relationship with bipolar developed between these two moments in time?
Both filming a documentary and writing a book about bipolar disorder have completely changed my life and made me realise what’s important to me. Before this, I didn’t really understand just how many people would relate to my story. I have a very privileged support system, which I know is a huge factor in recovery, and my aim was always to be part of the 25% of people who only ever have one psychotic episode.
However, being sectioned brings up such specific emotions - being locked away because of the way your mind works, not being allowed out for months, and grieving a life before bipolar began. It was so reassuring to know that my twenties were “normal” for thousands of other people - even though, for a few years, I would have done anything to get rid of them.
Both projects have helped me accept what has happened and, in many ways, detach. Everyone has different ways of coping with an episode - there’s no right or wrong way. But in my case, connecting with a community has lit a fire in me to push past my ego and keep shouting about this. My aim is for young people to stumble across the topic and be curious about it, or to discuss it with friends as a way to prevent people reaching crisis and to encourage seeking help sooner from a GP if they notice symptoms.
Having told your story through different mediums, what have these different perspectives helped you to understand about yourself?
I’m still learning a lot about myself in this process. Podcasts were the first way I shared my story, but as presenting is a love of mine, I quickly slipped into character and detached from my narrative. Filming a documentary was the hardest part - I couldn’t keep up a chatty persona in much of the footage. I saw for the first time just how quickly the light behind my eyes fades in a low, which I had never seen before. Watching it back gave me more empathy towards myself, as it hit home just how extreme the illness I’m managing is.
Writing a book has helped me gain confidence. Even though it’s seven years later, all the medication makes you very sedated, so this restored my faith that underneath it all, my brain can still help me succeed as well as hinder me. Shooting for brands such as EBIT, END, and others since returning to modelling, I’m learning new boundaries all the time about which parts of my story I can share with new people on set. It’s pushing me to let go of what people think - and I never thought I’d be so excited to be modelling again.
Why do you think bipolar disorder is still so commonly misunderstood, despite being one of the most common long-term conditions in the UK?
Honestly, lack of education! At 22, when I was diagnosed, I had never heard the word outside of a teacher in my junior school who used to have a wild temper and throw rulers and pencils at kids. Either that, or if the weather changed suddenly - those were the only times I’d heard the phrase used. Both gave a sense that bipolar was something wrong or scary. It would do so much good if it were mentioned in schools or at home when people are growing up, so they know it’s nothing to be ashamed of and something so important to understand.
As a potentially lifelong condition, what do you find helps you to manage your condition on a daily basis?
Management is an ever-changing experience! As I get older, different things trigger my mood to flip, and most of the time bipolar disorder has no rhyme or rhythm, so it’s very difficult to control. Routine, however, is the best aid!
A sleep routine is number one, as too little sleep can send me high or low very easily. Eating healthily is also so important - I’ve read a lot about the benefits of an unprocessed diet, so I lean towards high protein if I can, especially as my medication affects my metabolism.
Exercise is God’s gift to a mood disorder! Running and swimming are the best for me, as cardio really helps regulate not just my mood but also my energy levels. While these all sound very basic, they’re combined with finding the right medication. With type 1 bipolar, my brain would slip into psychosis within a few days if I didn’t take my antipsychotic.
The process of trial and error to find my combination took seven months after my episode. No two people with bipolar seem to react the same to different drugs, so it’s a hard process of trial and error - but once you discover what helps, everything else becomes much easier.
I’ve seen that you’re an ambassador for Bipolar UK – a charity centred around supporting individuals who have been diagnosed with bipolar – how did you end up working with them?
Bipolar UK are the most wonderful charity. Before I worked in the mental health space, I always wondered - what does an ambassador actually do? Would I just be virtue signalling or constantly raising money?
I had already written a few blog pieces about bipolar in 2023 when my documentary came out, but it was after this that I started working with them, as I became a point of contact for so many people online who were trying to find women speaking about it. After our first conversation, we’ve never stopped talking! We have regular calls to plan awareness campaigns and spread the message that they’re there to support not just people with bipolar but also their families and friends.
We have an awareness video coming out in November, which I’m so excited to share.
Having starred in their AW25 campaign “BIPOLAR/BICOLOR [E200]” earlier this year, how did you end up linking up with EBIT™? What appealed to you about working with the brand?
Simon won’t mind me saying this, but he slipped into my DMs! EBIT™ is a brand wanting to champion and give a platform to people within the mental health space. Because of the design of the collection, he became curious about bipolar - looking for stories that perhaps had two sides rather than just one of dark or light.
We jumped on a call the following week and spoke for hours - about what we both do, our stories, and our experiences working in the fashion industry. John had just started working with Simon, and both men were so encouraging from the start, telling me I had a story worth sharing.
For two people without bipolar themselves, I found their warmth very rare and exciting, as I could genuinely see their enthusiasm and passion for breaking the stigma around mental illness. I love both of their drives to change the conversation within the fashion industry, as this was a space where my symptoms were so obvious for years, yet no one spoke openly about mental health.
Very quickly, we arranged dates for me to fly out to Milan to shoot the campaign - and seeing them now stocked with END., a store in London I shop at all the time, is a dream come true.
