"Buffy the Vampire Slayer" actress Emma Caulfield revealed that she's been living with multiple sclerosis since 2010.
While chatting with Vanity Fair, Emma, who recently starred in Marvel's "WandaVision," recalled preparing for 2010's "Gigantic" series when things felt off.
"Prior to starting that job, I woke up one morning and the left side of my face felt like there were a million ants crawling on it," she said.
Soon, Emma got tested for several things, including Bell's palsy, but found out the results while shooting a scene that it was MS. The diagnosis, she said, "was literally a kind of nightmare." The actress, now 49, was also in denial, despite the fact her father lived with MS.
"'No, that's not possible.' I'm like, 'What are you talking about?,'" she said. "[The doctor] was very matter of fact about it."
In that moment, Emma decided to keep her diagnosis a secret, save for a few close friends.
"I knew in my bones that if you talk about this, you're just going to stop working. That's it," she said. "And no one had been really vocal…. The only reference points I had for anybody who was out there were Montel Williams and Annette Funicello from The Mickey Mouse Club."
After 12 years of living with MS, Emma, who starred as Anya in "Buffy," decided it was time to publicly reveal her health condition, largely because it's beginning to affect her acting.
While shooting "WandaVision" in 2020, Emma was worn out due to the heat in Atlanta and Los Angeles, where the series was filmed.
"I got really weak. I just went into survival mode and I remember having to be outside…. It was just unfortunate timing really," she added. "But I was very, very uncomfortable, and no one knew. I said nothing. And I paid the price for that."
Her condition is no longer secret.
"I'm so tired of not being honest," she said. "My daughter has changed my perspective, as I think anybody who is a parent can attest. I know that she has a 30% greater chance of coming down with this, just luck of the draw for her."