Erin Moriarty, the outspoken and righteous Starlight of “The Boys,” is speaking out about her health, specifically her ongoing battle with an autoimmune disorder.
Moriarty, 30, revealed to her Instagram followers on Friday that she was diagnosed last month with Graves’ disease, an autoimmune disorder in which the thyroid becomes overactive. In the caption of her post, Moriarty expresses the positive effects of treatment but reveals the disorder could have been identified earlier “if I hadn’t chalked it all up to stress and fatigue.”
The “Jessica Jones” and “One Life to Live” actor shared a carousel of photos including text message exchanges with her parents. In one screenshot Moriarty tells her mother “I really need relief” as she details her discomfort. “I can’t live like this forever,” she writes.
“It’s not just fatigue — it’s an ineffable, system wide cry for help and I don’t know how long I can remain in this state,” Moriarty continues in her text to her mother.
Moriarty did not reveal too much about her symptoms, noting in her caption that “autoimmune disease manifests differently in everybody/every body.” According to the Mayo Clinic, symptoms of Graves’ disease can include “feeling nervous or irritable,” slight tremors of the hands or fingers, weight loss, menstrual changes and heart palpitations. Wendy Williams, Daisy Ridley and Missy Elliott have also spoken publicly about living with Graves’ disease.
“Within 24 hours of beginning treatment, I felt the light coming back on,” Moriarty said in her caption. “It’s been increasing in strength ever since.”
She did not reveal the details of her treatment, but Moriarty told her father in a text message, “I already feel a world of a difference” and that she has since been thinking, “‘Damn, this is how I’m supposed to feel? I’ve been missing out!’”
Since “The Boys” premiered on Prime Video in 2019, Moriarty has starred as superhero Annie January, a.k.a. Starlight, who possesses the power to fly and manipulate light. Without spoiling too much about the series, it now seems Moriarty knows what it’s like to lose her spark on- and off-screen — and how to get it back.
She concluded her post by urging followers to listen to their bodies and seek medical attention when something feels off. “If [your light] is dimming, even slightly, go get checked,” she said.
“Don’t ‘suck it up’ and transcend suffering; you deserve to be comfy. S—’s hard enough as is.”
