Florence Pugh's family was advised to move abroad when she was younger to help with a health condition that impacts her breathing. The Oscar-nominated actress, 30, appears on The Graham Norton Show tonight (Friday, September 25) as the BBC talk show returns for a new series.
Childhood move to Spain
Pugh suffered from tracheomalacia as a child, which led to frequent hospitalisations. Her family relocated to Manilva in Spain when she was three years old, hoping the warmer weather would improve her health. They lived there until she was six, when they moved back to Oxford.
Tracheomalacia is a condition where the cartilage in the windpipe is weak or floppy, causing the walls to collapse or narrow when breathing out or coughing. Common symptoms include noisy, rattling, or high-pitched breathing, a barking or high-pitched cough, breathing problems that get worse during crying, feeding, or colds, and frequent lung infections such as bronchitis or pneumonia.
Health impact and precautions
Pugh previously opened up about how her health impacted her childhood on Running Wild With Bear Grylls, where she revealed that doctors had advised the move to somewhere with a "hotter climate". She said at the time: "We were in Spain because I have a breathing issue and when I was younger they kind of just advised that a hotter climate would be better. I have asthma and I have this thing called tracheomalacia as well, and so from a young age, I've just had a different breathing system."
According to the actress, the condition, which she claims is the reason for her raspy voice, typically only affects her now if she is sick. She explained: "Now as an adult, unless I get ill, it doesn’t really affect me as intensely as it did when I was younger." However, she still takes precautions and previously told Harper’s Bazaar that her health condition is the reason she spent the first part of the Covid-19 lockdown in 2020 in the warm climate of Los Angeles.
Career and family
Pugh made her acting debut in The Falling in 2014 before going on to star in Black Widow, Oppenheimer, and Don't Worry Darling alongside Harry Styles. On The Graham Norton Show, she chats about starring in the new adaptation of the Steinbeck classic East of Eden, saying that taking part in the series "was a dream" and a role she'll be talking about for the rest of her career.
Pugh has two older siblings, Game of Thrones actor and musician Toby Sebastian and actress and vocal coach Arabella Gibbins, and one younger sister Rafaela "Raffie" Pugh, who is an aspiring actress and musician. Toby, real name Sebastian Toby M. Pugh, first appeared on TV as a contestant on Orange Unsigned Act in 2008 and appeared in his first acting role in the film After the Dark four years later. In 2015, he was cast in the fifth season of Game of Thrones as Trystane Martell, and more recently he played Andre Agassi in Amazon Prime series Perfect Match.
The Graham Norton Show airs tonight on BBC One at 10.40pm.
