'AGT' judge says he can't remember life without OCD. Here's how he copes.

Howie Mandel wasn’t diagnosed with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) until his 40s, but he says the condition profoundly impacted his entire life.

“I don’t remember not experiencing OCD,” the “America's Got Talent” judge says over the phone, just two days after his 70th birthday.

Obsessive-compulsive disorder affects an estimated 1.2% of U.S. adults, and OCD sufferers usually go undiagnosed for 10 or more years. Mandel says the condition is deeply misunderstood — his symptoms, which he calls debilitating, stretch far beyond “germaphobe” stereotypes.

“I can't tell you how many people in the course of a week will come up to me and say, ‘I have a little bit of that.’ Well, you don’t have a little bit of OCD,” he says.

The comedian has been a partner of NOCD, a company that provides video-based OCD therapy, since 2022. Now more than ever, Mandel recognizes the need for accessible, reliable mental health care, especially with the growing concerns around "AI therapy."