Miranda Hart Opens Up About Lyme Disease Struggles In New Book

19 hours ago

'I Haven’t Been Entirely Honest with You' is out tomorrow

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Last night, beloved comedian Miranda Hart opened up about a plethora of topics on BBC One’s The One Show, from a secret wedding to her struggles with Lyme disease. She was there to promote her new memoir, I Haven’t Been Entirely Honest with You, which comes out tomorrow and delves even deeper into Hart’s personal life over the last decade. Here’s what to expect.

What To Expect From Miranda Hart’s New Memoir

Published by Penguin, I Haven’t Been Entirely Honest with You is a new memoir delving into Miranda Hart’s ‘unexpectedly difficult decade’. As Hart’s synopsis reads:

‘Hello to you, I am with news. I have a new book: I Haven’t Been Entirely Honest With You. I know – what an intriguing title!

Basically, I have had an unexpectedly difficult decade – there have been surprising joys, but also deep revelations and challenging lows. I shall be honest about those, because what I discovered in the difficult times were my, what I call, treasures.

Treasures – practical tools, values, ways, answers researched from some great scientists, neuroscientists, therapists, sociologists (all the ‘ists’) out there, that have genuinely led to a sense of freedom, joy, peace and physical recovery I never would have thought possible.

Life now, amazingly, with what I will share, is – SUCH FUN! (always important to quote your own catch phrases…) If you fancy having a read, then I hope my story might help your story. After all, we are in this beautiful, mysterious, challenging life together. Rest assured there are funny stories along the way – we will have a laugh too, my dear reader chum.

Oh, and I couldn’t possibly say if there is a love story in it… (There is – shush). Exciting.’

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What Happens?

As Hart discussed on The One Show, over the past decade, she has been battling Lyme disease. The rare disease is an infection caught from a tick bite, which causes symptoms including fever, rash, facial paralysis, muscle and joint pain, an irregular heartbeat and even arthritis. It’s usually easier to treat if caught early – but often people struggle to get a diagnosis as they don’t even realise they’ve been bitten.

When her symptoms were at their worst, Hart shared on the BBC how she ‘couldn’t get out of bed or get out of the house’, and found it incredibly hard being confined to her home for so long. ‘Once you’ve been bed and housebound with a fatigue-based chronic illness that takes a long time to be diagnosed […] you miss life a lot,’ she shared. ‘So I’m thrilled to be sitting here.’

Other celebrities who have battled the disease include Bella Hadid and her mother Yolanda, Justin Bieber and Kelly Flanagan.

Hart details her struggles in I Haven’t Been Entirely Honest with You – but it ‘hasn’t all been doom and gloom’, the comedian shared on TV. She also got secretly married. ‘Someone put a ring on it,’ she joked. ‘I got married at 51, and it’s just so lovely.

‘I’d written Gary for on-screen Miranda and it wasn’t until I was 49 that I met my person, and I met him and it’s a little undercurrent in the book,’ she added. ‘I’m not going to reveal how we met as that is a little bit of a twist.’ Before you ask, no, Hart has not married on-screen partner Tom Ellis, but she did tease that she met her now-husband during the pandemic.

‘The fact that I could meet somebody is not some kind of rom-com story, but it’s hope, there is always hope, things can always change,’ Hart shared.

I Haven’t Been Entirely Honest with You will also delve into what Hart calls her ‘treasures’: ‘10 keys […] to living well,’ she explained on The One Show. ‘I thought, I need to research this whole wellness expertise and dialogue that’s out there,’ she shared. ‘But I was in bed at home alone. The doctors didn’t know what to do with me and I couldn’t have a cold plunge or go on a yoga retreat.’ The comedian shared that searching for these ‘treasures’ has helped her appreciate life.

‘I’m really keen to get back to some silliness now,’ she added. ‘I miss the studio floor, I miss laughter.’