Comedian Miranda Hart has revealed her struggle with chronic fatigue after being diagnosed with Lyme disease.
In his new book, I Have Not Been Completely Honest With You, Hart provides a candid account of the past 10 years, including the challenges posed by ill health.
The star’s autobiography also offers a rare insight into Hart’s private life, with the revelation that he married at the age of 51.
Hart, who is best known for her eponymous BBC show Miranda, told the BBC it had been a “hard few years” but she was “thrilled” by her marriage, and was “really looking forward to getting back to a certain stupidity”.
“It’s so great to be back on television, I’m so excited to be here,” he told The One Show.
“Because once you’re in bed and at home with a chronic illness based on fatigue that takes a long time to be diagnosed – which unfortunately I know a lot of people know – you miss a lot of life. So I’m excited. to be sitting here” .
Lyme disease is a bacterial infection that can spread to humans through a tick bite.
The disease can be treated easily if detected and diagnosed early, but for a long time, the actor did not know what caused him to feel bad.
It often starts with a circular rash and can lead to flu-like symptoms, nerve pain and sometimes paralysis (facial paralysis) on one or both sides of the face.
For most people, symptoms are short-lived and can be relieved by a course of antibiotics, but a minority continue to suffer more long-term symptoms, including chronic fatigue and unexplained neurological problems.
The star says she found it incredibly difficult to be confined to her home for such a long period.
“Unless you’ve had fatigue (like this), you don’t understand what’s literally not coming out of the plan,” Hart told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.
“I was basically bedridden – and at home. There would be a time where I would look at a glass of water, and think ‘I don’t know how to take that.’
“All anyone wants is to be heard, accepted, loved and seen… and when you’re not – especially in a medical situation – it’s the worst.”
Part of why she wrote the book was to share her discovery of what helped her recovery, she said.
“I thought I needed to research all this wellness expertise and dialogue that’s out there, but I was in bed at home alone, the doctors didn’t know what to do with me and I couldn’t take a cold shower or go to a yoga retreat.
“So I thought what are the universal truths? So I did years of research, when I felt able, and in the book there are 10 keys, which I call my treasures, to live well.
“And they really really (helped). I felt like, despite the suffering that came, that I lived a life of joy and meaning and fulfillment in a way that I never had before.”
“I feel like I know who I am honestly, in a way that I never knew I needed, which is just incredible.”
When he finally received his diagnosis, he was able to trace the condition back to his teenage years.
“Probably when I was about 14 or 15 years old, I got a tick-borne disease … and that’s when my symptoms started,” he recalled.
“It was such a relief. I mean, being misunderstood and wrong is one of the hardest things about these kinds of conditions. Of course.”
The actor, who began his career at the Edinburgh Fringe in the early 2000s, remains best known for his portrayal of love-struck and socially awkward Miranda from his self-titled TV sitcom which is was from 2009 to 2015.
But, off the screen, Hart’s love life seems to have a happy ending: at the age of 51, she reveals, she married a man she met during the pandemic.
“Mid-life marriage is an injection full of joy and fun,” he said. “It’s the best!”
“He’s my best friend, we have the best fun… The fact that I could meet someone – it’s not a rom-com story but it’s a hope, and that’s why I think, whatever the situation you’re in, there there is always hope that things will really change.”
After taking time to rest and recover, and with her new husband by her side, Hart suggested that she finally felt well enough to start taking on new projects.
“I’m really keen to get back to some silliness now, I miss the studio floor, I miss the laughter.”
After the show, Hart said he found his fans’ joy at his news “really very touching.”
Post a video on Xshe said: “I have my best friend for life and she’s wonderful, and I’m also very excited to be back in the land of TV and have a book out, so thank you so much for all your support.”
Hart ended the video high-fiving her husband — only his hand was visible in the clip — which she joked was an “exclusive.”
I haven’t been completely honest with you it’s out on October 10th.You can download Emma Barnett’s interview with Miranda Hart from BBC Sounds.