'Star Wars' star Daisy Ridley reveals Graves' disease diagnosis-InfoExpress
Daisy Ridley has been diagnosed with Graves' disease.
The "Star Wars" star, 32, revealed in an interview with Women's Health published Tuesday that she was diagnosed with the autoimmune disorder in September after seeing an endocrinologist about hot flashes and fatigue.
Ridley said she started feeling poorly after filming her upcoming movie "Magpie," though she initially assumed this was simply because that was a stressful role. She said her symptoms included a racing heart rate, weight loss, fatigue, hand tremors and irritability.
According to the Mayo Clinic, Graves' disease is a condition affecting the thyroid gland that "causes the body to make too much thyroid hormone." Symptoms include feeling nervous and irritable, tremors, sensitivity to heat and weight loss, the clinic notes. Talk show host Wendy Williams has also battled Graves' disease.
Since receiving her diagnosis, Ridley said cutting down on gluten has helped her feel better.
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"I didn't realize how bad I felt before," she told Women's Health. "Then I looked back and thought, 'How did I do that?'"
"We all read the stats about women being undiagnosed or underdiagnosed and sort of coming to terms with saying, 'I really, actually don't feel good' and not going, 'I'm fine, I'm fine, I'm fine, I'm fine,'" she added. "It's just normalized to not feel good."
Ridley's first major role was Rey, the young Jedi hero who serves as the main protagonist of the "Star Wars" sequel trilogy films "The Force Awakens," "The Last Jedi" and "The Rise of Skywalker." Since the trilogy's conclusion in 2019, she has starred in smaller dramas like "Sometimes I Think About Dying" and "Young Woman and the Sea." In the latter, she plays Gertrude Ederle, the first woman to swim the English Channel.
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The actress has previously opened up about being diagnosed with endometriosis, which according to the Mayo Clinic is a condition in which tissue "similar to the inner lining of the uterus grows outside the uterus." Ridley said in a 2016 Instagram post that she was diagnosed at age 15 and later learned that she has polycystic ovaries.
"To any of you who are suffering with anything, go to a doctor; pay for a specialist; get your hormones tested, get allergy testing," she said at the time. "Keep on top of how your body is feeling and don't worry about sounding like a hypochondriac. From your head to the tips of your toes we only have one body, let us all make sure ours our working in tip top condition, and take help if it's needed."
In a January interview with Inverse, Ridley also shared that she developed holes in her stomach wall due to severe anxiety from starring in "Star Wars."
Ridley is set to return as Rey in an upcoming untitled "Star Wars" film, which will be directed by Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy. It is expected to follow Rey's creation of a new Jedi Order after the events of "The Rise of Skywalker."
Contributing: Kelly Lawler