Howie Mandel says his wife, Terry Mandel, eventually reached a point where living around his obsessive-compulsive disorder and intense fear of germs had become too much.
During the August 24 episode of Hoda Kotb’s Joy 101 podcast, the 70-year-old comedian recalled Terry telling him she could not continue living that way unless he sought professional help. Her ultimatum eventually sent him to a psychiatrist, where Mandel was diagnosed with OCD in his 40s after experiencing symptoms since childhood.
He gave Kotb several examples of how extensively his rituals affected the household. Mandel said he built a separate space in the backyard where he might stay for a week if one of their children sneezed, and he sometimes required family members to disinfect phones or other objects he considered contaminated.
The conversation also covered a separate crisis decades later. Mandel said his anxiety intensified dramatically during the COVID-19 pandemic and that he began self-medicating in an attempt to sleep and escape his thoughts, eventually reaching a point where Terry sometimes could not wake him.
Terry’s Ultimatum Came After His Rituals Affected the Whole Family
Mandel told Kotb that his fear of germs is only one manifestation of the OCD symptoms and rituals he has dealt with for much of his life. Although germaphobia became part of his public persona and comedy, he described the reality of living with it in far harsher terms. “It’s hell,” he said.
Mandel explained that people with OCD may try to create circumstances that make themselves feel more comfortable, but in his case those attempts also placed demands on the people around him. “Let’s just talk about the germ thing. It’s just one of many,” he said, explaining that there are rituals he finds difficult to escape.
One extreme example was the structure he built behind the family’s home. Mandel said it was not really a conventional guest house but a separate place he could retreat to if he became concerned about illness. Objects could trigger similar routines. “If I deemed something not sanitary, then I’d have them disinfect the phones,” he recalled. Eventually, Terry reached her limit.
Mandel Says His Wife Finally Told Him, ‘I Can’t Do This Anymore’
Mandel said Terry was the person who finally pushed him toward professional treatment. “Finally, my wife just went, ‘I can’t do this, this is really tiring, go talk to somebody,’” he recalled.
“She got me to therapy through an ultimatum,” Mandel told Kotb, later calling Terry a “hero” for enduring the situation and insisting that he see someone. Mandel has previously said the future of their marriage was at stake if he refused to get help.
In a 2023 Healthline interview, Mandel said his obsessions had affected Terry and their children so extensively that he made them participate in repeated cleaning behaviors, including washing their hands, wearing gloves, avoiding touching phones and disinfecting items around the house.
“I was given an ultimatum about my marriage ending if I didn’t get help,” he said in that earlier interview. The intervention led Mandel to a psychiatrist and, in his 40s, to the OCD diagnosis that finally gave a name to symptoms he said had followed him since childhood.
He Had Lived With OCD Symptoms Since Childhood
Long before his diagnosis, Mandel said behaviors now understood as part of his OCD were simply treated as personal quirks.
He told Healthline that, as a child, he refused to learn to tie his shoes because the laces had touched the ground. He also remembered needing certain routines to be performed in specific ways and becoming intensely distressed when the people around him did not follow them.
At the time, neither Mandel nor the people around him understood those behaviors as symptoms of a mental health condition.
Receiving a diagnosis decades later therefore brought some relief. Mandel said it lifted “a huge weight” because he finally understood that what he had experienced had a name and that treatment existed.
His willingness to discuss the condition publicly came later. Mandel has said he initially felt ashamed of having a mental health diagnosis and worried that acknowledging it could damage his career.
Over time, he began discussing OCD, anxiety and ADHD more openly, both in interviews and through comedy, while stressing that jokes about his germ fears do not reflect how painful the underlying condition can be.
Mandel Says He ‘Almost Died’ While Self-Medicating During COVID
Mandel told Kotb that COVID intensified fears he already experienced every day. “I live like I’m in a pandemic anyhow,” he said, explaining that confronting an actual worldwide infectious-disease outbreak became extraordinarily difficult for him.
His sleep deteriorated as his thoughts spiraled. Mandel said he began using cannabis gummies in an effort to fall asleep, then escalated to smoking and drinking as he tried to quiet his mind.
“There were times when my wife, she couldn’t wake me up,” Mandel told Kotb. Terry sometimes became frightened enough that she considered taking him to a hospital. Mandel said he believes the behavior nearly killed him. Entertainment Weekly also highlighted his account after the podcast was released.
He acknowledged that his response was unhealthy and rejected using his mental health as an excuse for it. Mandel said he cannot use substances moderately and is now sober.
He Says Treatment Now Includes Therapy and Medication
Mandel told Kotb that his current approach includes prescribed medication, substantial therapy and surrounding himself with mental health professionals. He remains wary of the periods when his symptoms become particularly severe because he remembers how difficult those lows can be. Another coping mechanism is keeping himself occupied.
Mandel said distraction is important to him and that he stays “incredibly busy” because quiet periods can allow recurring dark thoughts to take up more space. He has previously emphasized that treatment has not made his OCD disappear. Instead, he describes managing a condition that continues to affect him while using therapy, medication, work and the support of people around him to navigate it.
Terry has been present through most of that history. The couple married on March 16, 1980, and share three adult children, Jackelyn, Alex and Riley.