Emma Caulfield Ford
This is how the “Buffy” actress lives with multiple sclerosis
Emma Caulfield Ford is back.
© imago images/Starface
“Buffy” star Emma Caulfield Ford talks about her life with multiple sclerosis in an interview.
Emma Caulfield Ford (50) has been living with the diagnosis of multiple sclerosis (MS) since 2010 – in 2022 she spoke about it for the first time and made her illness public. In an interview with the US magazine “People”, the actress known from “Buffy” and “WandaVision” now gives an update about her health.
“I’m very, very happy,” says Caulfield Ford. But she is aware that this can change at any time with multiple sclerosis. The actress describes her physical condition as “stable”. Ensuring that it stays that way is now the highest priority. Her illness is mild and she doesn’t take any medication, she explains to People.
In 2010, the actress who played the demon Anya in the cult series “Buffy” felt symptoms for the first time. One morning she woke up “and the left side of my face felt like there were a million ants crawling on it,” she told Variety in 2022.
“I was out of my mind”
Caulfield Ford initially thought it was a pinched nerve, but she went to the doctor anyway. It wasn’t until some time later that she found out that she suffered from multiple sclerosis. Her doctor called her while she was filming. “I was out of my mind,” Caulfield Ford recalls the moment in an interview with People. “I had just received this devastating news and they said, ‘We’re ready for you on set.’ So I pulled myself together and put on a good face. It was surreal,” she said.
The actress, whose father also suffered from MS, kept her illness secret. She didn’t even tell her sister. She only told her husband Mark Ford (42), with whom she has a seven-year-old daughter.
The reason for her silence: She feared that she would otherwise not get any more roles. “There are already too many reasons why you don’t get hired. I didn’t want to give them another excuse.”
Emma Caulfield Ford was able to keep her illness secret for a long time. But in 2020 she collapsed in the heat on the set of “WandaVision.” “I felt dizzy and fainted,” she said. “I thought, ‘My body can’t take this.'” She realized things couldn’t go on like this. “I can’t be afraid anymore,” she told herself. “I have to tell the truth. It’s not good for my health.”