INTERNET STARS PENN AND KIM HOLDERNESS: LIVING WITH ADHD - It's a Superpower

PENN'S CONDITION, DIAGNOSED IN ADULTHOOD, TESTED THEIR MARRIAGE-BUT IT'S ALSO THE MAGIC BEHIND THEIR VIRAL SUCCESS

- EILEEN FINAN

The moment Kim Holderness first met her future husband, Penn, when the two were both newscasters in Florida, she knew there was something different and special-about him. "I saw him across abar, and he was doing the worm on the stage," Kim recalls, "I was like, I'm going to marry that man.""

The silliness and impulsivity that won her heart and, in fact, "all the things I was attracted to about Penn were because of his ADHD," she says of Penn's adulthood diagnosis of the neurodevelopmental condition attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). For the past 10 years Penn, 49, and Kim, 48, have harnessed his ADHD zeal in their work as Raleigh, N.C.-based content creators. Their 8 million-plus fans follow videos and Penn-written parodies about everything from parenting and Gen X to Taylor Swift and pickleball, including an eclipse video Penn dreamed up and shot in minutes that drew more than 5 million views in four days.

Along the way Penn's symptoms put stress on their relationship, but in their new book ADHD Is Awesome, out April 30, the couple, married 19 years, lean into the complex mix of challenges and gifts that come with ADHD, which affects at least 8.7 million American adults. “‘Awesome’ means not only inspiring but also terrifying. It’s a lot of good and bad,” says Penn, who, like an increasing number of Americans, wasn’t diagnosed until he was an adult. A recent JAMA study found a 43 percent spike in the rate of adults diagnosed with ADHD since 2007. “I have my career, my family and my life in part because of ADHD,” says Penn.