Celebrities are people too, and just like regular people, they get sick. Diseases don’t actually pick and choose whom they’re going to make ill next. Unfortunately for some celebrities who are sick with a condition, no amount of fame or money can make some of these strange diseases disappear. If only popularity can be the measure for health, celebrities will be the healthiest bunch out of all of us. But we all know this isn’t so, and celebrities are subject to the sickness just like the rest of the world.
Here’s a list of 20 celebrities with some interesting and very strange diseases.
1. Cher
Singer-actress Cher has been sick since the late 80s and her condition will never go away. After getting sick with the Epstein-Barr Virus, life for Cher was never the same. She had to take three years off from work just to try and get better. She even went to Germany to try treatments that weren’t available in the US back then. Cher’s symptoms were so severe one year that she actually thought she might die. Her disease even comes with a devastating aftermath of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, a condition that typically happens after a person has been infected by such a virus. There’s no cure for the cause of the Epstein-Barr Virus, but there are ways to alleviate symptoms.
2. Selena Gomez
You never want to imagine that a young and talented artist such as Selena Gomez could ever get sick with a chronic illness, but she is. A few years ago, Gomez was diagnosed with Lupus, an autoimmune disease where the body can just randomly attack any of its parts including the skin, internal organs, and joints because the immune system fails to distinguish healthy tissues from foreign invaders. After being diagnosed, Selena suffered so much depression and anxiety about her disease that she had to cancel her tours in order to focus on herself. These are common symptoms of Lupus, but the disease also has a host of other physical symptoms such as hair loss, rashes, and fever.
3. Kristen Chenoweth
There’s no note that famous Broadway star Kristen Chenoweth cannot tackle. Her voice is as strong and pitch-perfect as a well-tuned piano. It’s hard to imagine that Kristen suffers from Ménière’s disease, a disorder of the inner ear that can cause pressure, vertigo, tinnitus, and even hearing loss. That’s tough for a person who sings for a living and sings for passion. Ménière’s can be caused by inner ear deterioration, a head injury, allergies, or even infections. It might also have other causes that are yet unknown. Kristen did suffer a severe head injury during a set accident not too long before she acquired Ménière’s. Whether her injury and her disease are related is not known as of today.
4. Jimmy Kimmel
It’s quite interesting for a host of a late night show to be suffering from a sleep disorder. But then again, you might argue that it doesn’t matter because all those late night shows are taped in the daytime anyway. Right? Wrong. Narcolepsy is a sleep disorder that can manifest itself at any time of the day, anywhere. Jimmy Kimmel can literally fall asleep randomly. Although Jimmy claims that his narcolepsy is mild in comparison, he says he’s never too far from sleep. Narcolepsy can also have severe symptoms such as limb limpness and can actually be quite dangerous. Imagine you just fall asleep rather suddenly while walking in the middle of the road. Accidents happen, yes they do.
5. Sia
Super talented musical genius Sia revealed a few years ago that she had been diagnosed with Graves’ disease. This disease affects the thyroid gland, producing an abnormal overactivity in the metabolic interactions of the organ. Sia has shared some of her symptoms before, which include the shakes and a case of the nerves. She even claims that the disease completely changed the way she looked. This might be one of the reasons why she has retreated into anonymity. Some other symptoms of Graves’ disease include sweating, diarrhea, weight loss, and tremors. Sia’s disease has prevented her from touring, so she can avail of some treatments. The disease has also caused her to sleep more than usual, which can be a problem for those with traditional jobs.
6. Venus Williams
Even athletes get sick too, even though they may seem to be larger-than-life. Tennis superstar Venus Williams suffers from Sjögren’s syndrome, another autoimmune disease that presents a lot of different symptoms. Sjögren’s affects a huge chunk of the population, and very little is known about it. The disease attacks salivary glands and tear ducts, causing a relentless dryness in the eyes and mouth. The more severe cases of Sjögren’s include fatigue, joint pain, sleep disturbances, and numbness in the extremities. You can see how this syndrome can become a problem for a professional athlete. While the symptoms may remain mild as it is now for Venus, it can also worsen any time. Sjögren’s has no cure at the moment.
7. Lena Dunham
The talented writer and actress from the hit TV show Girls is, oddly enough, sick with a disease that only affects women. Endometriosis is a disease of the endometrium, the tissues that line the uterus’ interior. With endometriosis, this lining spreads beyond the uterus causing severe and chronic pain. It can also disturb the normal bleeding process during menstruation. It causes irritation and cysts and can cause scarring in other parts of the reproductive system. For this reason, endometriosis can cause fertility problems as well. Mild endometriosis can be treated with medications and controlled with hormonal pills or treatments. Severe cases, such as in the case of Lena, might need surgery.
8. Kim Kardashian
Kim has always been an advocate for outer beauty, so it’s hard to imagine her with a disease that affects her skin. Ever since Kim was diagnosed with psoriasis in 2011, she’s been open about how the autoimmune disease has affected her life. Psoriasis is caused by rapid skin cell growth, which oftentimes appear as thick scaly growths or rough red patches on the surface of the skin. The severity of the disease can vary from person to person, and treatments will work differently as well. According to the doctor that diagnosed Kim, her psoriasis was caused largely by intense pressure and stress. Since she’s found out about her disease, Kim has learned to control her stress in order to prevent flare-ups.
9. Katie Leclerc
Katie Leclerc is known for playing a deaf teenager in ABC’s drama Switched at Birth. However, not too many people know that Katie is actually hard of hearing, a symptom she acquired from a disease. Katie suffers from Ménière’s disease, which can cause vertigo in addition to intermittent hearing loss. She was diagnosed after people suggested to her during filming that she might need some hearing aids. The deterioration of her inner ear happened so slowly that she didn’t even realize she couldn’t hear anymore. Katie also said that her ears are constantly ringing, and she always feels like she needs to pop them.
10. Shannen Doherty
Shannen has been in the news lately due to the cancer she’s been fighting, but she’s also got another disease that she’s dealt with for much longer. Shannen has been outspoken about her Crohn’s disease since the late 90s, in hopes to educate people who might also be suffering from it. Crohn’s is an autoimmune disorder that causes the intestinal tract to be inflamed. The most common symptoms are obvious but also so highly generalized that it’s sometimes difficult to diagnose. Some symptoms include abdominal pain, diarrhea, ulcers, weight loss, and blood in the stool. Other symptoms can include fevers, fatigue, mouth sores, and other skin disorders. Crohn’s is a difficult disorder to deal with and it can only be controlled by treatments.
11. Billy Corgan
The lead singer and guitarist of the popular 90s rock band Smashing Pumpkins is suffering from a disease that affects his skin. If you’ve ever seen Billy Corgan’s left hand, you might notice that it’s got reddish purple plotches or port wine stains on it. This is the mark of the Klippel-Trenauny Syndrome, a very rare vascular disorder that manifests itself in a few ways. One is with port wine stains. Another is by an excess of varicose veins, and the last is an excess in bone or tissue growth. All of these happen in a limb and can appear singularly or in combination with the other symptoms. Some severe cases might also come with a physical impairment, but thankfully, Corgan’s guitar-playing hands remained unaffected.
12. Gerard Butler
Talented actor Gerard Butler is just as good as a singer. Surprisingly, Gerard suffered from tinnitus as a young child and had to have his right ear pressed to try and correct the condition. However, he still suffers from tinnitus to this day and is actually hard of hearing in the same ear. Tinnitus is a medical condition that causes a constant ringing or buzzing in the ears. Gerard also blames his crooked smile to the condition, saying that his hard of hearing causes him to smile that way. There is no cure to this condition and no one really knows why it happens either.
13. Jennifer Esposito
TV personality Jennifer Esposito suffers from celiac disease, a disease that’s been popularized recently due to the surfacing of information regarding gluten consumption. Jennifer has had a difficult time living with this disease and even claims that her celiac has caused her job. Celiac is a disease that is aggravated with the consumption of gluten, resulting to an immune response that damages the small intestines, which prevents it from absorbing nutrients. Jennifer said that her symptoms are rather severe. From extreme fatigue to joint pain, headaches, and even memory issues, the symptoms of celiac disease can be utterly debilitating. Jennifer is striving to live a gluten-free lifestyle and shares her journey through her product line.
14. Toni Braxton
Popular 90s music icon Toni Braxton also suffered from lupus, the autoimmune disease that can affect various parts of the body. For Toni, the most difficult part about dealing with lupus is the challenge to keep up with the fatigue. Lupus can cause chronic and extreme fatigue that makes it difficult for anyone to work. However, Toni’s never let her disease stop her from doing a show.
15. Missy Elliott
The queen of rap has been suffering from Graves’ disease since 2008. The autoimmune disease that affected her thyroid was one of the reasons that she lost so much weight back around the time of her diagnosis. Missy experienced a sudden loss in muscle control before she decided to go to the doctor to figure out what was going on. She couldn’t drive anymore or even hold a pen up to write. There was one incident when she was driving her car and she was trying to press on the gas pedal but just couldn’t. Missy almost got into an accident then. This is the point when she said she needed to know what was happening. After discovering that she had Graves’ disease, Missy put all her efforts into making sure she gets a handle on her disease. Her disease is now controlled, but she will have it for the rest of her life.
16. Sarah Michelle Gellar
Vampire-kicking Buffy also suffers from a medical condition, one that actually affects her body in a major way. Sarah suffers from major scoliosis, a curvature of the spine that can cause an abnormally disproportionate body. Scoliosis can also cause a lot of discomfort for whoever has it, as you can tell by just looking at the back of a person who has it. Sarah never let her scoliosis stopped her from acting. She controlled the discomfort of scoliosis by exercising and doing pilates. Sarah also never allowed herself to be embarrassed by her scoliosis. She was never afraid to show her back to the public, wearing backless dresses at award shows and other engagements. If scoliosis is caught early enough in a child, it can be corrected by wearing braces to straighten the spine. Otherwise, a severe case of scoliosis in an older person can only be corrected by surgical treatment.
17. Lil Wayne
The famous rapper has always talked about his epilepsy. Lil Wayne has been hospitalized a few times in his career due to seizures. He has stated that he’s an epileptic, making him more susceptible to seizures. Epilepsy is a brain disorder that is specifically characterized by seizures. These seizures vary tremendously from completely undetectable to lasting minutes. They can also manifest in different ways such that may seem asymptomatic to the layperson. Seizures can manifest as dizziness, confusion, repetitive motions, staring, or the more popular jerky movements. Lil Wayne had a serious bout of three back-to-back seizures in 2013 that forced the star to slow down a little bit and de-stress. Lil Wayne has learned to manage his seizures after having them for most of his life, but the scare of having consecutive bouts immediately caused the star to disappear from the spotlight for a little while.
18. Mike McCready
The lead guitarist of Pearl Jam has lived with Crohn’s disease for 25 years. His symptoms were abdominal pain and bloody mucus in his stool. He was diagnosed shortly after his symptoms started and he’s been an advocate for those suffering from the disease since. He’s always opened about the difficulty of living with Crohn’s, telling stories about how he always needed a port-o-potty close by in case of accidents. He’s spent many times on the port-o-potty instead of being onstage, and while his band was always supportive of him, Mike was always embarrassed of his disease. He’s learned to accept it over the years and encourages others to be bold in living with Crohn’s.
19. Leann Rimes
Grammy award-winning country singer Leann Rimes also suffers from psoriasis. However for Leann, her battle with the disease started when she was only two years old. She grew up having constant psoriasis flare-ups that forced her to cover up her scaly, red lesions. Her lesions spread throughout her body during the summer times, and she remembers being so embarrassed then. With the help of proper dermatological treatment, Leann now has her psoriasis completely under control.
20. Seal
Most people know Seal to have a distinct scarring on his face. This scarring has almost made him iconic in a sense. Many people also know that Seal suffers from lupus. However, not many know that the scarring on his face is actually caused by his lupus. With his autoimmune disease, his body started to attack his own face, injuring it and scarring it until it’s done enough significant damage. Seal’s disease is particularly called discoid lupus, a type of lupus that favors the intense inflammation of the skin above the neck including the face, scalp, and ears. Seal never let his scarred face deter him from pursuing his musical career. This type of lupus can be managed with sun protection and anti-inflammatory treatments.
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