Comedian and actress Miranda Hart is set to appear in the upcoming series of The Celebrity Traitors, a reality TV show featuring a star-studded lineup. Hart, known for her award-winning BBC sitcom Miranda and roles in Call the Midwife and Not Going Out, has also faced significant health challenges since her teenage years.
Decades of undiagnosed illness
In her autobiography, I Haven't Been Entirely Honest With You, Hart detailed her long struggle with chronic fatigue that left her bedbound and housebound. She contracted a "tick-borne illness" while living in Virginia, USA, at age 14 or 15, which led to debilitating symptoms throughout her life. She was eventually diagnosed with Lyme disease in 2020, a bacterial infection spread to humans through tick bites.
Speaking on BBC Radio 4's Today programme, Hart explained she suffered from bronchitis, tonsillitis, gastroenteritis, labyrinthitis, blood clots, adrenal fatigue, cysts, and migraines over the years. She was also diagnosed with myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME), also known as chronic fatigue syndrome, before the Lyme disease diagnosis.
Living with chronic fatigue
Hart described the severity of her condition, saying she was unable to leave her home for long periods. She explained: "Unless you’ve had fatigue [like that], you don’t understand what literally not getting off the floor is. I was basically bed-bound - and house-bound." She added that there were times she couldn't even pick up a glass of water.
Despite the difficulty of treating the condition, Hart said the diagnosis was "a relief." She noted that her illness was never acute, but she was living a "half-life" without understanding why. She highlighted the hardest part of fatigue-based conditions: the lack of understanding, no end date, and no management plan.
Joining the Celebrity Traitors
Hart is now preparing to take part in The Celebrity Traitors, which is understood to start later in September. While the exact date has not been announced, Joe Marler hinted on his podcast The Rest is Entertainment that it might be September 23.
The full lineup of celebrities reportedly includes Amol Rajan, Bella Ramsey, James Acaster, James Blunt, Jerry Hall, Joanne McNally, Joe Lycett, Julie Hesmondhalgh, King Kenny, Leigh-Anne Pinnock, Maya Jama, Michael Sheen, Myha'la, Professor Hannah Fry, Richard E. Grant, Rob Beckett, Romesh Ranganathan, Ross Kemp, Sebastian Croft, and Sharon Rooney.
What is Lyme disease?
Lyme disease is a bacterial infection spread to humans by infected ticks. It is usually easier to treat if diagnosed early. Not all ticks in England carry the bacteria, but it's important to remove ticks safely. High-risk areas include grassy and wooded regions in southern England and the Scottish Highlands.
Symptoms can include a circular or oval rash around a tick bite, often called a bullseye rash, which may appear within one to four weeks after a bite. Flu-like symptoms such as a high temperature, headache, muscle and joint pain, and tiredness can also occur days or weeks after being bitten.
