How Erin Moriarty’s illness disrupted season 5 of The Boys
Suffering from Graves’ disease, the Starlight performer reveals that she had to authorize the producers to speak directly with her doctors as her condition had deteriorated.
Filming the final season of The Boys was particularly trying for Erin Moriarty.
Guest of the MeSsy podcast (listen below), the 32-year-old actress looked back on the particularly difficult months which preceded the diagnosis of her Graves’ disease, an autoimmune disease affecting the thyroid. The actress explains that it all started with unusual fatigue, endless nights and numbness in her hands and feet. On the advice of a friend, she finally took a blood test.
“From the first tests, they saw that something was wrong. Then everything became very complicated. It took a lot of time to make the diagnosis, because I was constantly tested… but for the wrong antibodies.”
For several weeks, doctors carried out multiple examinations without being able to identify the disease.
“It was a very painful time. Each result took a week to come back, and many times it was for the wrong test.”
Her condition then worsened so much that she had to make an exceptional decision regarding the production of The Boys, during the filming of season 5:
“I ended up giving the producers full medical clearance so they could speak directly with my doctors, because I had become so ill. I had difficulty making a simple phone call, expressing myself properly. My thoughts were completely disjointed. I wasn’t really present mentally.”
If she does not specify what arrangements were put in place on the set, Erin Moriarty recognizes that her state of health necessarily had an impact on her character.
“There were certain facets of Starlight that would have been much more developed over the course of the season if I had been able to be fully present…”
Fortunately, his treatment began to take effect during production:
“The first episode that I shot after the start of my treatment, and in which I was fully present, was the finale. It’s also the one where I’m on screen the most. And thank God, I was at least able to be present for this last season. Fortunately the treatment worked for me… because that’s not the case for everyone.”
The actress even describes the effects of the drug as a true miracle: “I took just one tablet. The next morning, I felt like I had come back to life. The change was almost immediate.”
Today, Erin Moriarty claims to be much better and looks back on this period with the feeling of having gone through one of the most difficult trials of her life.
