Melanie Griffith: Divorce was 'a real healer' after epilepsy diagnosis

Oct. 20 (UPI) -- Melanie Griffith says her divorce was "a real healer" after she was diagnosed with epilepsy six years ago.

The 60-year-old actress went public with her struggle with the neurological disorder Wednesday at a Women's Brain Health Initiative panel in Beverly Hills, Calif., according to People.

Griffith was diagnosed with epilepsy in 2011 after having two seizures while attending the Cannes Film Festival with then-husband Antonio Banderas, from whom she split in 2014. She said her seizures stopped after the stress of her divorce dissipated.

"I was extremely stressed out," Griffith recalled of her grand mal seizures in Cannes, according to The Hollywood Reporter. "Every seizure that I had was at a point when I was extremely stressed."

"I got divorced which is the real healer for me," she quipped before adding, "I'm not stressed anymore. It's been three years."

"As women, we take on family, we get the husband, we have the life, we have the children, we take care of the house, we also go to work, we can't sleep at night because we are up with the kids," the star explained. "I don't think I've slept for 35 years."

Griffith helped control her condition with medication and has not had a seizure in four years. She was recently given the all-clear from Health Nucleus in San Diego, Calif., a facility known for genomic testing.

"They did all the tests on my brain. They couldn't find the epilepsy; they couldn't find anything wrong," the star said. "It's pretty much that it was stress."

Actress Sharon Stone, who hosted the panel, went public with her own health scare, saying she had a stroke in 2001. Griffith thanked Stone and Women's Brain Health in a tweet following the event.

"I so enjoyed the evening. Lots of new amazing information regarding Womens Brain Health!" she wrote, adding a high-five emoji. "@sharonstone and @WBHI."