Star Wars actor Daisy Ridley reveals Graves' disease diagnosis

7 August 2024, 15:22 | Updated: 7 August 2024, 15:55

Star Wars actor Daisy Ridley has revealed she was diagnosed with Graves’ disease last year.

The actress, who rose to fame after staring as Rey in the hit blockbuster franchise, opened up about the autoimmune disease during a recent interview.

Ridley, 32, was diagnosed in September 2023, after being encouraged by her doctor to see an endocrinologist after feeling waves of fatigue.

“I thought, ‘well, I’ve just played a really stressful role; presumably that’s why I feel poorly’,” she said.

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But when the doctor told her that Graves’ can make you feel “tired but wired”, Ridley realised it may have been something more.

“It was funny, I was like, ‘Oh, I just thought I was annoyed at the world’ but turns out everything is functioning so quickly, you can’t chill out,” she said in the new interview with Women’s Health Magazine.

The diagnosis saw her make some changes to her diet, including going gluten-free.

“I am not super strict about it, but generally cutting down on gluten makes me feel better,” she added.

According to the NHS, around four in five people with an overactive thyroid have Graves’ disease.

Graves causes the immune system to produce antibodies that cause the thyroid to produce too much thyroid hormone.

The cause of Graves' disease remains unknown, but it primarily impacts young or middle-aged women and often runs in families.

Smoking can also increase your risk of getting it, the NHS has warned.

Ridley has been candid about her health since rising to fame, opening up about being diagnosed with endometriosis in her teens and polycystic ovary syndrome in her 20s.

The actress also stresses the importance of listening to your body and not just accepting that feeling sick is normal.

“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.’ It’s just normalized to not feel good,” she said.

“In the grand scheme of things, it’s much less severe than what a lot of people go through,” she continued.

“Even if you can deal with it, you shouldn’t have to. If there’s a problem, you shouldn’t have to just [suffer through it].”