From a deadly brush with typhoid to a shock scurvy diagnosis - the stars who have suffered from medieval diseases - just like Josie Gibson

Daily Mail​

27-04-2025

From scurvy to gout, there are many historic diseases that people would confine to the likes of Henry VIII - but can still affect people today.
Josie Gibson shocked fans this week when she revealed she is suffering from a medieval disease after filming a travel show where she sampled first class cabins.
After filming Channel 5 travelogue Around The World In First Class, the presenter, 40, went for a health MOT ahead of her next TV challenge.
When having the check-up ahead of filming the 1970s Diet, she was surprised to find she had gout - often associated with the Tudor King and Benjamin Franklin.
The This Morning star isn't the only celebrity to be diagnosed with conditions historically associated with the Middle Ages, including scurvy and polio.
Robbie Williams previously revealed he contracted scurvy after using an appetite suppressant, while Zac Efron had a brush with death after getting typhoid.
Additionally, some celebrities have been open about their struggles with diseases like quinsy and malaria.
Robbie Williams - scurvy
The hitmaker (pictured in 2013) previously credited his two stone weight loss to an appetite suppressant but has revealed the drug led to him becoming malnourished
In April Robbie revealed that he was diagnosed with scurvy after he stopped eating while taking an appetite-suppressant drug.
The Rock DJ singer, 51, has spoken out about his various health battles over the past year, revealing the physical affects of a weight loss drug.
Explaining that he lost two stone whilst on the medication, Robbie admitted it also led to an unusual diagnosis.
'I'd stopped eating and I wasn't getting nutrients,' he said, explaining he was undernourished and lacking in vitamin C, leading to scurvy which he dubbed: 'A 17th-century pirate disease.'
He added that his decades-long battle with body dysmorphia meant he misconstrued concerned comments from loved ones.
'With body dysmorphia, when people say they're worried about how you're looking, you're like: 'I've achieved it.' When people say, 'We're worried you're too thin,' that goes into my head as 'Jackpot. I've reached the promised land',' Robbie told The Mirror.
Robbie previously credited his two stone weight loss to 'something like Ozempic', sharing in a 2023 interview that he'd gone from weighing 13st 13lb to 12st 1lb while using an appetite suppressant.
Robbie explained that being overweight is 'shockingly catastrophic' for his mental health.
The popstar, who was once dubbed 'Blobby Williams,' described how mean his inner voice can be when he isn't slim, telling The Times: 'Babe, I'm on Ozempic... Well, something like Ozempic. It's like a Christmas miracle. I've gone from 13st 13lb to 12st 1lb.
'And I need it, medically. I've been diagnosed with type 2 self-loathing.
'It's shockingly catastrophic to my mental health to be bigger. My inner voice talks to me like Katie Hopkins talks about fat people. It's maddening.'
Zac Efron - typhoid
In 2019 Zac opened up about his brush with death saying he bounced back quickly after contracting a life-threatening illness while filming a survival show in Papua New Guinea.
He took to Instagram at the time and shared a snap with children from his time in Papua New Guinea. He captioned it: 'Very thankful to everyone who has reached out.
'I did get sick in Papua New Guinea but I bounced back quick and finished an amazing 3 weeks in P.N.G.
'I'm home for the holidays with my friends and family. Thanks for all the love and concern, see you in 2020!'
Efron was thought to have come down with a 'form of ­typhoid or similar bacterial ­infection' just before Christmas of that year, and was flown to Brisbane on a 'life-or-death flight' with the assistance of medical professionals.
He took to Instagram at the time and shared a snap with children from his time in Papua New Guinea. He captioned it: 'Very thankful to everyone who has reached out. I did get sick in Papua New Guinea but I bounced back quick and finished an amazing 3 weeks in P.N.G.'
According to The Daily Telegraph, Zac was flown to hospital in Brisbane, Australia for urgent medical treatment and was finally given the all clear to fly home to the US on Christmas Eve.
He fell sick while filming the documentary series 'Killing Zac Efron', which he had begun filming at the start of December in Papua New Guinea.
The series followed Zac as he went 'deep into the jungle of a remote, dangerous island, falling off the grid for 21 days.'
After being flown to Brisbane, he was admitted to the private St Andrews War Memorial Hospital in Spring Hill 'in a stable condition'.
There, he received treatment for several days, before being 'given the all clear' by doctors to fly home to the U.S. on Christmas Eve.
Dr Glenn McKay, Director of Medical Rescue, the organisation that oversaw Efron's flight, told the newspaper he could not discuss patient information, but confirmed they 'retrieved a US citizen in his 30s from PNG to Brisbane for medical attention in Australia.'
During his time filming, Efron was welcomed into the Kamanibit Village after arriving by canoe, before then travelling to the Pagwi Village.
Cheryl - malaria
In 2010 Cheryl was left fighting for her life after contracting malaria following a trip to Tanzania.
Four years later she was part of fundraising efforts for Sport Relief where she spoke about her health woes.
At the time she said: 'When I climbed Kilimanjaro for Comic Relief five years ago it was honestly one of the hardest things I've ever done.
'The motivation lay in knowing it could help in eradicating malaria and ultimately saving lives by providing mosquito nets.'
Cheryl continued: 'I didn't for one minute think that only a year later I would get malaria myself and become so ill that at one point I was given 24 hours to live.
'I was lucky; I had the best care I could get. Some people are not so lucky. A £5 mosquito net could keep a child safe and really does help.
'I've decided to speak out about this again now because having experienced it, it's obviously very close to my heart and I want people to know how easy it is to help.'
Four years later she was part of fundraising efforts for Sport Relief where she spoke about her health woes
Doctors ordered Cheryl to stop exercising and put on weight after the health scare that almost killed her.
And the svelte star – who was given just 24 hours to live at one point after contracting malaria – had no choice but to obey them to beat the illness.
'I just ate everything,' she said at the time.
She revealed how being ill had changed her priorities. 'It opened my eyes to health and things I hadn't focused on before,' she said.
'It's now less about work, work, work and more about making time to chill and be with my friends and family.'
Cheryl caught malaria while on holiday in Tanzania with American dancer Derek Hough in June 2010.
Rebel Wilson - malaria
Last year Rebel opened up about a terrifying brush with death that occurred when she was a teen.
The Hollywood actress, now 45, revealed the trauma happened when she contracted malaria at age 18 while travelling through Mozambique.
She said that she caught the life threatening disease after being bitten by 'hundreds' of mosquitos.
'When I was 18, I got malaria. I woke up one morning in an African bush and I had like 100 mosquito bites on my face,' the Bridesmaids star said in an interview with Us Weekly.
'I was in hospital for two weeks, she added. 'I could have died from it, it was very, very bad.'
Elsewhere in the chat, Rebel joked that the incident was part of why she suffers from 'bugs-xiety'.
'I have always had bugs-xiety … [since] growing up in Australia, where we have a lot of bugs,' she said.
Discussing the frightening experience back in 2019, Rebel said she failed to take precautions against contracting malaria - which is transmitted via mosquito bites.
She was working with a charity in Africa at the time when caught malaria which can present symptoms such as high fever, and seizures.
'They tried to give me pills but I heard they can cause mental problems - so I ended up being the stupid person who got it (malaria),' she said in an episode of the Aussies in Hollywood podcast.
Mia Farrow - polio
Mia contracted polio when she was nine years old, in the summer of 1954, and now campaigns for vaccination programmes.
In her memoir, What Falls Away, she shared her childhood experience of surviving polio.
And talking about the ordeal to the New York Post, back in 2000, she said: 'I perhaps am more motivated than most people because I had polio myself.
'And it was a real struggle to come through it; what I saw will never leave me — in the hospitals and in the public wards for contagious diseases.'
Mia has worked on polio vaccination campaigns around the world and is a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador.
In a previous Tweet, she has said: 'The year after I had polio, a new vaccine was released. Parents rushed to get their kids vaccinated.
'Polio is now gone from our country [America] and most of the world... It was a gift - a blessing.'
Polio is a serious infection that's now very rare because of the vaccination programme.
It's only found in a few countries and the chance of getting it in the UK is extremely low.
The polio vaccine is part of the NHS routine childhood vaccination schedule.
Rhian Sugden - quinsy
In March this year Rhian shared the distressing news that she had quinsy - a 'Victorian disease' that left her in 'absolute agony'.
The lingerie model, 38, admitted that even though she has a 'quite a high pain threshold', the discomfort she was feeling is 'something else'.
In a follow-up post, she shared a photograph of herself in a hospital room to let fans know that her health had taken yet another turn.
She said: 'So I've just been back to the doctors because my throat is in absolute agony. I think I've got quite a high pain threshold, but this is something else.
'I've got Quinsy. I thought that was a Victorian disease, but oh my god, if anyone's ever had it, oh god, I can't even. It hurts to even open my mouth.'
Rhian captioned the hospital snap of herself: 'Quinsy: 1, Rhian: 0'.
The NHS describes quinsy as a bacterial infection that starts in one tonsil then spreads to the space around the tonsil 'pushing the tonsil inwards and making the soft palate bulge.'
Those with the illness, which responds well to antibiotics, typically struggle to open their mouths more than a centimetre or two.
Measles, meanwhile, is a viral infection, also common in children, that's characterised by a distinct rash, fever, and cough.
Both illnesses can be passed from person to person.
Josie Gibson - gout
This week Josie revealed she is suffering from a medieval disease after filming a new travel show where she sampled first class cabins.
After filming Channel 5 travelogue Around The World In First Class, the presenter, 40, went for a health MOT ahead of her next TV challenge The 1970s Diet, where she was told she had gout.
Gout, a type of arthritis that causes severe pain and swelling in the big toes, feet, wrists and ankles, affects an estimated 1.5 million people in the UK.
Cases are on the rise, with the number surging by about four per cent each year.
The TV personality said her toes had been hurting her throughout the show, which is available on 5's streaming service and sees Josie take 12 first class flights and private jet trips and stay in rooms worth more than $20,000 per night in the likes of the Middle East and the Caribbean.
She said: 'I thought gout was only for old men but I have been living quite a lavish life.
'Before I filmed this show, I caught a lot of flights, I drank a lot of champagne, I ate a lot of rich food and I had little sleep. That's how I ended up getting gout.'
Josie had been enjoying the enviable lifestyle of drinking champagne and tucking in to rich food in Michelin-starred restaurants.
Blood tests gave the shock diagnosis, after spending weeks living in luxury.
Gout is often associated with wealthy historical figures, including Henry VIII and Benjamin Franklin, who were known to enjoy alcohol and red meats, both of which are high in purines which cause the illness.
More recently, actor Jared Leto was diagnosed with gout after rapidly gaining more than four stone (26kg) for the role of Mark David Chapman in the film Chapter 27 in 2007.
Comedians James Corden, 46, and Jack Whitehall, 36, are also among celebrities who have suffered with it in recent years.
Josie confirmed she is now gout free after returning to a less lavish diet.
'As soon as I stopped catching all the flights and started drinking a bit more water and less champagne, it leveled itself out,' she said.
And her health took a turn in another direction after she took part in the show The 1970s diet and ate boiled potatoes, liver and spam.
'I've come from one extreme to the other,' Josie added. 'I went from living my finest life ever to being brought down to earth with a bang.'
WHAT IS GOUT?
Gout is a form of arthritis that can be extremely painful.
Agonising attacks come on very quickly, often during the night.
It affects around two per cent of people in the UK and 8.3 million in the US.
Gout was once thought to be caused by overeating and drinking excessively, however, that is not the whole story.
The condition occurs due to a build up of uric acid, which can be because a person's kidneys cannot get rid of the substance quickly enough.
Over time, uric-acid crystals can form in and around the joints, which can trigger severe inflammation that usually settles within a week.
In any day, about three-quarters of the urate in our bodies comes from the breakdown of purines produced within our body, while only about a quarter comes from the breakdown of purines in food and drink we consume.
Foods and drinks high in purines include:
Alcohol
Red meat and offal
Oily fish, such as mackerel and salmon
Foods rich in yeast extract, like Marmite and Bovril
As well as pain, symptoms can include joints being:
Red
Hot
Swollen
Shiny
Without treatment, gout attacks can become more frequent, with more joints being affected.
The two most common painkillers used to treat gout are non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, such as ibuprofen, and colchicine.
You don't need to face arthritis alone. Our advisors aim to bring all of the information and advice about arthritis into one place to provide tailored support for you.
Call 0800 5200 520 for free today (Monday–Friday, 9am–8pm)