Judy Castelli

Judy Castelli was a popular singer/songwriter in Greenwich Village in the 1970s and 80s, headlining at Folk City and the Bottom Line. She was negotiating a record contract with both Columbia and Atlantic Records when she realized there was something terribly wrong. She quit performing to focus on her mental health, with psychiatric hospitalizations and ongoing therapy.

Discouraged and not believing she would survive, she was finally diagnosed with Dissociative Identity Disorder: 44 personalities lived inside her. She became a spokesperson for people who live with Dissociative Disorders (formerly known as Multiple Personality). She made and taught art–sculpture, stained glass and paintings—reflecting her life—and wrote a book titled Looking Inside: Life Lessons from a Multiple Personality in Pictures and Words.

Now 50 years later, she is back on stage and in the studio. She no longer takes any medication and has conquered the personalities urging her to set herself on fire. She is able to look in a mirror and see herself. Her voice and presence are undiminished with time.