“The Boys” Star Erin Moriarty Says Her Graves' Disease Diagnosis Triggered a 'Severe Mental-Health Crisis'

Cara Lynn ShultzFri, May 22, 2026 at 2:44 AM UTC

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'The Boys' star Erin Moriarty in Los Angeles in March 2026
Credit: JC Olivera/WWD via Getty -

Erin Moriarty revealed she struggled with severe symptoms for years before being diagnosed with Graves' disease in 2025

The actress wrote a deeply personal essay in Time about the emotional toll of her illness, which included memory loss, fatigue and a mental-health crisis after treatment

Moriarty hopes sharing her story will raise awareness about illnesses that disproportionately affect women and are often misunderstood

Erin Moriarty says she was hospitalized following a "severe mental-health crisis" after her diagnosis of Graves' disease — and the toll the autoimmune disorder took on her body while she searched for answers.

"I found out the heartbreaking way that a medically confused woman is rarely considered credible," the actress, 31, wrote in a deeply personal essay for Time.As she recounts, she struggled with significant symptoms beginning in September 2023.

"My memory was failing me. My body felt unfamiliar. My emotional presence, something I had always protected and valued fiercely as an actor, became increasingly difficult to access," wrote Moriarty, who plays Starlight on the Prime Video hit The Boys.

Kimiko (Karen Fukuhara), Billy Butcher (Karl Urban), Annie January aka Starlight (Erin Moriarty) on 'The Boys'
Credit: Jasper Savage/Prime

She began to struggle with fatigue, she wrote, which "became incapacitating. I began sleeping through every alarm. On weekends, I would sleep 19 hours (or more) straight. The mood swings I had experienced years earlier intensified. My hands and feet became so weak and numb that walking began to feel dangerous. I developed heart palpitations and persistent urinary pain."

"But the most frightening symptom of all was the cognitive decline," Moriarty wrote. "My short-term memory deteriorated so severely that learning even simple lines became difficult — terrifying when you’re filming a television show."

She was referred to a neurologist, but while they searched for a diagnosis, Moriarty was filming the final season of The Boys.

"I was going through the physical hell of chronic illness on a public stage," she wrote. "Doing it in private is emotionally damaging enough, but to have my physical symptoms be speculated about, trivialized, and dismissed was devastating."

In May 2025, as filming on the final season was wrapping, she was given an answer: Graves' disease. The autoimmune disorder affects the thyroid, according to the Cleveland Clinic, causing insomnia, hair loss, anxiety, a rapid heartbeat, diarrhea, shortness of breath and weight loss.

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The day she was given a diagnosis was "the day my life began again. Not because it instantly fixed everything, but because it finally gave shape to the chaos. It gave language to suffering that had gone on for years. It gave me an answer. "

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However, as she reveals, months after she began treatment — or as she puts it, in the "aftermath" — Moriarty was hospitalized "following a severe mental-health crisis" on Aug. 1, 2025.

Erin Morarty at the series finale event in Los Angeles in May 2026
Credit: Matei Horvath/Getty

As she explained it, as her physical health began to improve, she realized "how absent from myself I had been for the previous two years. I had been hormonally dysregulated, cognitively impaired, and psychologically untethered for so long that recovery didn’t bring me peace."

"It brought me clarity," the Gen V actress continued. "And for me, clarity arrived carrying grief. Grief for the time I could not get back. For what this illness had taken from me professionally, creatively, relationally, psychologically. I spent at least two years of my life physically present but mentally unreachable. My grief hit me so hard that there was a moment I was unsure I could carry it."

She wrote that she was compelled to speak out because "illnesses that disproportionately affect women are still too often minimized, misunderstood, or exaggerated. Silence has consequences. Ignorance does, too. And so, remaining silent about this is no longer an option for me."

The Jessica Jones actress ended her essay with a plea for others, explaining, "I hope the transparency surrounding my symptoms can help even one person catch their illness earlier than I caught mine. The body speaks long before it screams. Listen to yourself before your body is forced to scream loud enough for the world to hear it, too. "

If you or someone you know is struggling with mental health challenges, emotional distress, substance use problems, or just needs to talk, call or text 988, or chat at 988lifeline.org 24/7.

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Source: “AOL Entertainment”