Wednesday, October 14, 2015

Selena Gomez "comes out" as a lupus patient

Lupus is still a fairly misunderstood illness. I still get strange questions about it, years after I was first diagnosed. Of course, I have to remember that when i was diagnosed, i'd never even heard the word "lupus" myself.

When a celebrity opens up about having an illness, it can potentially help bring more awareness and even more compassion to the illness, and more importantly, better understanding.

"Coming out" as a celebrity with a chronic illness is risky. There's the fear that people won't want to hire you for shows/ movies anymore because you might cancel the show/ perform poorly because you're sick. Decades ago, when celebrities developed cancer, they were completely hush-hush about it. They would find a doctor who would treat them in a remote place, under complete secrecy, and neither the doctor nor the celebrity would ever speak of it. Show biz is, indeed, a competitive business. No one wanted to jeopardize their career by admitting to not being in perfect health and able to work at the drop of a hat.

Speaking of hats, hats off to Selenaa Gomez, for talking openly about her recent diagnosis of lupus.
http://tinyurl.com/pwwrfv7