Miranda Hart claimed that Selena Gomez saved her when her health hit rock bottom in an emotional interview.

The comedian, 52, made the candid confession during a chat with Alison Hammond and Dermot O’Leary on This Morning on Friday. 

The actress explained that she had experienced a range of symptoms since the age of 15, but it had taken her years to get any medical help. 

The star was finally diagnosed with Lyme disease after suffering the debilitating symptoms of fatigue, aches and loss of energy for three decades.

She went public with her health struggles for the first time in her new memoir I Haven’t Been Entirely Honest With You, as well as detailing falling in love with her now-husband.

Miranda Hart, 52, admitted that Selena Gomez saved her when her health hit rock bottom in an emotional interview on This morning on Friday

Speaking on This Morning, Miranda explained that she had wanted to share her story after seeing Selena Gomez’s documentary My Mind & Me (pictured) and it gave her the push to continue working on her book.

The star told Alison Hammond and Dermot O’Leary that there had been moments where she felt so exhausted she couldn’t even complete daily tasks like picking up a glass of water

Speaking on This Morning, Miranda explained that she had wanted to share her story but had experienced moments of doubts. 

She then revealed that she was inspired after seeing Selena Gomez’s documentary My Mind & Me and it gave her the push to continue working on her book.

The series followed the singer’s battle with the autoimmune disease lupus – before revealing in the documentary that she contemplated taking her own life for several years after battling psychosis, which led to her being diagnosed with bipolar disorder.

Miranda said: ‘I went through a wobble where I didn’t feel strong enough to be vulnerable to put this out there and then I watched Selena’s documentary and she’s gone through so much with fame at such a young age and her illness.

‘And I was weeping and I felt heard and if one person can read this and fell like “Oh great yes I’ve been feeling ill since I was 15 too,” then it’s worth it.

The star explained that there had been moments where she felt so exhausted she couldn’t even complete daily tasks.

Miranda revealed that her chronic illness dampened her experiences working on her hit BBC sitcom Miranda because she felt so ill throughout filming. 

‘I’d got used to just waking up and feeling terrible and getting on with it, ‘ she said.

She told the show: ‘You don’t ask for help because you don’t know what you’re asking for help for and if you say you can’t pick up a glass you look like a diva and people think “What? Just have a drink”

Selena’s series followed her battle with the autoimmune disease lupus – before revealing in the documentary that she contemplated taking her own life for several years (pictured in her documentary) 

‘But there were some days where I felt so sad I couldn’t really enjoy it.

‘There were moments when I couldn’t even lift my arm up to pick up a glass of water.

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‘When you’re just keeping on keeping on you feel like you get into that English way of not complaining. 

‘You don’t ask for help because you don’t know what you’re asking for help for and if you say you can’t pick up a glass you look like a diva and people think “What? Just have a drink”.

Miranda explained that her new book doesn’t have the cure for her chronic illness, but instead suggests ways to manage the condition and said that her friends and family have found her book inspiring. 

She added that what she learnt while writing it was how to be more vulnerable. 

‘What I went through is a chronic illness but my friends have said the book still resonated with them about micro things that are exhausting and about what vulnerability actually is.

‘And I thought I was good at being vulnerable, I was the silly comedian who didn’t mind- farting in public, that’s vulnerability isn’t it?’ she joked.

Miranda went public with her health struggles for the first time in her new memoir I Haven’t Been Entirely Honest With You, as well as detailing falling in love with her now-husband

The comedian revealed that her chronic illness dampened her experiences working on her hit BBC sitcom Miranda (pictured) because she felt so ill throughout filming  

‘But I just didn’t know how to do it. I was brought up to be independent and strong and leaning how to be fragile is being human. Who to ask, who is your person?

‘And I didn’t know so I became a terrible over sharer.

‘And the book is about how to be me more honestly myself; the comedian, the over sharer, the wind breaker.

‘But now I can be more vulnerable and honest – I need more sleep, I don’t like socialising very often and it feels amazing.’

Miranda’s emotional confession comes after she revealed on BBC Radio 4’s Young Again programme that she was forced to give up work due to her ill health, admitting that people stopped getting in touch.

Speaking to Kirsty Young, Miranda explained how ‘the hardest thing’ about her health issues was not being able to work.

She said: ‘You know that the hardest thing I found was letting go of work and the pain of not being able to work.

‘So, no, I couldn’t work because I became ill and I tried to keep going before the diagnosis and it didn’t go well, and, I feel like I want to say thank you to all those dear producers and directors that had to work with me when we didn’t know what was going on and I was so unwell, but I hated having to stop work.’

Miranda’s emotional confession comes after she revealed on BBC Radio 4’s Young Again programme that she was forced to give up work due to her ill health (pictured on The Graham Norton Show October 2024)

She continued: ‘I hated giving up work… The phone completely stopped ringing and no one texted me, nothing, absolutely nothing. Just a few very kindly people who’d occasionally touch in and go, “Just come back when you’re ready”.’

However, Miranda explained that her mystery husband had helped her heal following her years of ‘deep deep aloneness’ and gushed he was a ‘brilliant best friend of a man’.

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She said: ‘I’ve been married twice on screen, but third time in real life. It’s very, very lovely. I mean, I pinch myself every day.

‘That longing I felt and that deep deep aloneness – I think if I hadn’t longed, if I hadn’t felt what I felt, then I wouldn’t have found him and I wouldn’t be here.

‘It led me to grieve for what I needed and to become the person I needed to be to connect, and so I now have this brilliant best friend of a man and we laugh every day.

‘He’s practically more ridiculous than I, which I never thought possible to find in a human being. He’s been part of healing. He’s helped me find my joy and meaning. It’s just wonderful. And he says the same for me, I should rather proudly add. It’s lovely.’

Describing their first date, Miranda recalled how the pair had bonded over pizza and fallen for each other.

She said: ‘I was determined on going on a date. [I thought] right, if I’m learning about how to be honest about who I am and love myself, then when a pizza delivery comes and it’s all, you know, shunted towards one end in the delivery.

However, Miranda explained that her mystery husband had helped her heal following her years of ‘deep deep aloneness’ and gushed he was a ‘brilliant best friend of a man’

‘It’s very upsetting… I thought, well no, I’m going to practice what I’m preaching and learning, so I just launched into this: “I’m really pissed off. Look at the pizza. Now it looks like a calzone, I hate calzones! They’re just pizzas folded. What is a calzone? This is really upsetting”.

‘And then you could see his sort of wide eyes and I thought, in the past I would have gone, “I’m so sorry, I’m an absolute idiot. Don’t look at me, I’m so silly ha ha.”

‘But I carried on about the pizza but it led to a very true and funny connection and brilliant date.’

In her new memoir, released earlier this month, Miranda talks about her plight and the moment she ‘collapsed’ from ill health, leading to her taking a near decade break out of the spotlight.

While fans know the comedian as Chummy in Call The Midwife and for her cheery self-titled sitcom, she admitted behind closed doors she was desperately telling doctors: ‘I feel toxic and poisoned.’

It took medics 33 years to discover Miranda had been battling with the bacterial infection Lyme disease, after initially mislabelling her as being agoraphobic – an anxiety disorder characterised by symptoms of anxiety in situations.

The comic finally received the diagnosis in lockdown and believes she contracted Lyme disease when she 14 after battling nasty flu-like symptoms in Virginia.

Lyme disease is caused by a bacteria that is transmitted to humans through the bite of infected black-legged ticks.

The most common symptoms of the disease are fever, headache, fatigue and a skin rash called erythema migrans.

The disease can typically be treated by several weeks of oral antibiotics.

But if left untreated, the infection can spread to the joints, heart and nervous symptoms and be deadly.  

WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU ARE INFECTED?

During the first three to 30 days of infection, these symptoms may occur:

• Fever
• Chills
• Headache
• Fatigue
• Muscle and joint aches
• Swollen lymph nodes
• Erythema migrans (EM) rash 

The rash occurs in approximately 80 per cent of infected people.

It can expand to up to 12 inches (30 cm), eventually clearing and giving off the appearance of a target or a ‘bull’s-eye’.

Later symptoms of Lyme disease include:

• Severe headaches and neck stiffness
• Additional rashes
• Arthritis with joint pain and swelling
• Facial or Bell’s palsy
• Heart palpitations
• Problems with short-term memory
• Nerve pain 

Source: CDC