‘Star Wars’ Actress Daisy Ridley Has Been Diagnosed With Graves’ Disease

Daisy Ridley is opening up about her health journey after being diagnosed with Graves’ disease last year. In the cover story for the September/October issue of Women’s Health, the 32-year-old Star Wars franchise actress revealed she was shocked to learn she was suffering from the immune system condition after previously being diagnosed with endometriosis and polycystic ovaries.

Ridley had been experiencing a racing heart rate, weight loss, fatigue, and hand tremors when she first went to see the doctor but attributed her symptoms to working on Magpie, a psychological thriller that was “really stressful” to work on. When her doctor described Graves’ disease, which affects the thyroid, as a condition that makes one feel “tired but wired,” Ridley gave her symptoms more thought. 

“It was funny, I was like, ‘Oh, I just thought I was annoyed at the world,’” she told the outlet, “but turns out everything is functioning so quickly, you can’t chill out.” 

In addition to daily medication, the actress decided to cut down on gluten in her already vegan diet, noting that she’s “not super strict about it, but generally cutting down on gluten makes me feel better.” Ridley has also made changes to her workout routine and lifestyle in an attempt to be “more well-being conscious” than just “health conscious,” adding infrared saunas, cryotherapy, massages and acupuncture, and crystals to her regimen. 

“I do a fair amount of the holistic stuff, but I also understand that it is a privilege to be able to do those things,” Ridley said, adding that after getting into a new routine, she’s felt the weight of her Graves’ disease lift. “I didn’t realize how bad I felt before,” she admitted. “Then I looked back and thought, ‘How did I do that?’”

Ridley now encourages women to advocate for themselves at the doctor. “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. While “in the grand scheme of things,” the star’s Graves’ disease journey is “much less severe than what a lot of people go through,” Ridley encouraged, “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].”