Famous Bipolar People

LARRY FLINT - FAMOUS BIPOLAR ENTREPRENEUR

Larry Claxton Flynt Jr., an American publisher was born on November 1st, 1942 in Lakeville, Kentucky. Larry is the owner of Larry Flynt Publications Inc. He is noted for publishing pornographic material and was listed in the Arena magazine among the “50 Most Powerful People in Porn” list.

Larry Flynt attended Salyersville High School, but run away during his first year to join the United States Army, using a fake birth certificate. Following his discharge from the Army, Larry went to live with his mother and worked at the Inland Manufacturing Company which is affiliated with General Motors. He lost the job three months later and went to live with his father. He started illegal transportation of alcohol but stopped when he heard the police were looking to arrest him. He enlisted in the United States Navy with his fake birth certificate, where he became a radar operator. He was however discharged again in 1964.

 

A year after his discharge from the Navy, Larry bought a bar in Dayton, Ohio, which he handed to his mother. He used the profit from this bar to buy two other bars. Making more money, he bought a better classed bar, which featured naked women dancing, which was the first of its kind in the area. Calling this club the Hustler Club, he opened branches in Akron, Cleveland, Columbus, Cincinnati and Toledo. He made as much as between $260,000 and $520,000 profits a year, with which he bought a newspaper franchise called the Bachelor’s Beat. He run the paper for two years and sold it.

 

Larry published the Hustler Newsletter, which contained information about his clubs. With the onset of the 1973 recession, business dropped for the Hustler bars. Larry decided to publish pornographic material in the Hustler Newsletter to be able to sell it nationwide. Though the initial sales were bad, the magazine made its mark within a year. In 1971, Larry published nude pictures of the American First Lady, Jacqueline Kennedy. This gave the magazine an instant push, over a million copies were sold in a few days.

Larry Flynt was suspected to have suffered from bipolar disorder, though not much is said about it. Eager to enlist in the army even at a tender age, he lied about his age. He worked hard and attained wealth by the time he was 23. One writer described him as having a “Pathological need to give offense” as is reflected in the numerous lawsuits brought up against him. Offensiveness is one characteristic exhibited by the manic depressive. Flynts love for pornographic material also provides evidence of his depression. He was quoted as saying that he believed sexual repression is the root of the world’s problems; he might be referring to himself. Flynt used to work 20 hours a day when he started operating the Hustler bars, taking amphetamines to keep him awake.

 

Flynt has married five times and has four children. He run for public office several times but was unsuccessful. He also escaped an assassination attempt. He is now confined to a wheelchair due to paralysis.