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Miranda Hart has revealed that she was “bedbound for years” after undiagnosed Lyme disease developed into chronic fatigue syndrome.
The comedian, 51, has shed new light on her life through her memoir, I Haven’t Been Entirely Honest With You, in which she recounts her three-decade long health battle that initially saw her diagnosed with agoraphobia.
While she was able to function with her illness for some time, she said it stopped her from fully enjoying her career, and described her life during the six-year-broadcast of Miranda as like “wading through treacle”.
“I lost my joy and know that I hadn’t enjoyed my career in the way that I knew I could have if I hadn’t been ill,” she said, speaking at Cheltenham Literature Festival.
The comedian said she eventually “hit rock bottom” when she suffered a total “collapse” after her hit sitcom came to an end in 2015.
“I was housebound and bedbound for years,” she said. “I didn’t have a job, I didn’t have a social life. I didn’t have any responsibilities or identities.”
It was at this point that Hart pressed for doctors to do a deeper investigation into her condition, telling them that she was leading “a half life, a very debilitated life, but with no understanding of why”.
The comedian, who has made only a handful of public appearances in recent years, has recently stepped back into the spotlight to promote her new memoir.
Hart said that she subsequently underwent several blood tests after hitting rock bottom, and it was then that some “very clever” experts were able to join the dots and diagnose her with Lyme disease.
It has been speculated that she contracted the illness while briefly living in Virginia as a teenager. The state is a hotspot for the bacterial infection, which is spread by bites from infected blacklegged ticks.
While the comedian’s health has improved in the intervening years, she said that she has not yet “fully recovered” but is optimistic following her diagnosis.
“I’ve only recently been out in the world again,” she admitted.
Lyme disease can result in several complications, including myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS), but those who are promptly diagnosed have the best outcomes.
While the odds of contracting the illness in the UK are low, there are some areas where people are advised to be wary of ticks, such as in the Scottish Highlands.
The comedian said that prior to her diagnosis, she thought she was permanently ill with what appeared to be a chronic case of the flu.
“If this was a named condition and this is how you manage it then I could handle it,” Hart said. “I think the hardest thing about these sort of fatigue-based conditions is that lack of understanding, lack of never knowing when there’s an end date.”
Thankfully, Hart was also able to make a happy revelation through her book, revealing that she had secretly gotten married in July.
She crossed paths with her now-husband, Richard Fairs, 60, when he was hired to remove mould from her house sometime after the pandemic and described their relationship as a “an extraordinary thing”.
“I think I fell in love immediately,” she said, adding that Mr Fairs proposed in London’s Kew Gardens.
Looking to the future, Hart said that while she does not plan to write another sitcom, she would be interested in potentially joining the ensemble cast of another show.
The Independent has reached out to a representative for Ms Hart for comment.
