No matter how rich and famous someone might be, there is no substitute for good health. It is probably safe to say that all of us, celebrities included, want to live long and healthy lives. That's why it can be so challenging for anyone to discover that they are facing a medical condition, especially if that medical condition is something rare or unusual or that most people have never heard of before. This recently happened to Céline Dion (more on that later), but she's not the only celebrity who has had this experience.
Some celebrities choose to be open about their health struggles and use their diagnoses as a way to raise awareness (and sometimes funds) for their less commonly understood conditions. But some celebrities who have rare and unusual medical conditions may choose to keep their conditions private. No matter how famous someone is, they should have a right to keep their medical info to themselves, so we won't highlight anyone who hasn't spoken publicly about their condition.
Regardless of how they handle it, we certainly hope all of the 16 celebrities featured here are able to stay as healthy and happy as possible despite their ongoing medical challenges.
Sarah Hyland
Modern Family star Sarah Hyland was born with a condition called kidney dysplasia, which affects around 1 in every 4,000 babies and can cause serious health challenges. For Sarah, this has led to her undergoing two kidney transplants (both from family donors) and surviving years of health struggles as a result.
Céline Dion
Singer Céline Dion shocked fans in December 2022 with her announcement that she'd been diagnosed with a rare disease called stiff person syndrome. This condition, which affects roughly one in a million people, causes muscle spasms throughout the body and has made it impossible for Céline to sing the way she wants to — forcing her to cancel her upcoming tours.
"Unfortunately, these spasms affect every aspect of my daily life, sometimes causing difficulties when I walk and not allowing me to use my vocal cords to sing the way I'm used to," she said in a video statement.
Venus Williams
Venus Williams has a little-known autoimmune disorder called Sjögren's syndrome, which can cause health issues including dry eyes, dry mouth, and joint pain. This condition caused the tennis star to have to end her career.
"Sjögren's is a complex and often invisible disease," she told the Sjögren's Foundation in April 2022. "As a patient, I was misdiagnosed many times and my symptoms got progressively worse to the point where I couldn't play professional tennis anymore."
Jimmy Kimmel
Jimmy Kimmel is no stranger to late nights, but his persistent feeling of sleepiness isn't due to his job as a talk show host. Jimmy is one of about 135,000 to 200,000 Americans who have narcolepsy, which is a neurological disorder that impacts the brain's sleep/wake cycles.
He described his experience with the condition to Esquire in 2007. "Every afternoon between about 3 and 6, I would get very tired for no reason. I would doze off in meetings, watching TV, even driving," he said. "You know how when you're regular tired, your whole body is tired? With narcolepsy, just the inside of your head is tired. It's like somebody's gently sitting on your brain. You have almost no focus. All you're thinking about is not falling asleep."
Kristin Chenoweth
Musical theater icon Kristin Chenoweth has been struggling with an invisible illness for decades. The actress and singer has Ménière's disease, which is a condition of the inner ear that can cause symptoms such as vertigo, hearing loss, and headaches. Not ideal for someone who sings professionally, that's for sure!
Gaten Matarazzo
Stranger Things star Gaten Matarazzo has been vocal when it comes to sharing and raising awareness for his rare disease, cleidocranial dysplasia. Gaten was born with this genetic condition, which affects how bones in the face and the teeth are formed. The young actor has undergone multiple surgeries as a result.
Winnie Harlow
Model Winnie Harlow exudes confidence and has gained attention as one of the most famous examples of someone living with the skin disorder vitiligo. This condition is the result of the body's immune system attacking cells that produce the pigment that gives skin its color. Globally, about 1% of the population likely has vitiligo.
Karen Duffy
Actress, author, and former MTV VJ Karen Duffy was diagnosed with a condition called sarcoidosis in 1996. Sarcoidosis, which affects fewer than 200,000 Americans per year, is an incurable disease that causes chronic pain as a result of inflamed tissue in the eyes, lungs, and brain.
Gigi Hadid
Model Gigi Hadid is one of the estimated 1% to 2% of Americans who have been diagnosed with Hashimoto's thyroiditis. This condition impacts the body's ability to regulate hormones and can cause an array of symptoms. Gigi has spoken openly about the condition and the fact that it has caused her weight to fluctuate during her career.
"I've loved my body when I was just diagnosed and I loved it going through it and I love my body now," she told E! News. "It's just about everyone accepting their body as it matures and knowing that it's not always going to look the same and you can love yourself in all different sizes."
Frankie Muniz
Frankie Muniz was the star of Malcolm in the Middle and then briefly quit acting to focus on a career as a race car driver. What fans didn't realize is that he was having severe aura migraines that were causing memory loss. He blames the persistent headaches in part on sustaining multiple concussions as a child.
Marianna Palka
Scottish actress and director Marianna Palka (who we recognize from her role as Reggie Walsh on the show GLOW) documented her journey to discovering that she has the gene that will eventually cause her to have Huntington's disease in the moving short film The Lion's Mouth Opens. The progressive brain disorder, which killed Marianna's father, is currently incurable.
Selena Gomez
Selena Gomez has revealed that she has lupus, which is an autoimmune disease in which a person's immune system attacks the body's tissues and organs. For Selena, this condition has sometimes forced her to take time out of the spotlight to recover from chemotherapy treatments and even a kidney transplant.
Justin Bieber
In June 2022, Justin Bieber surprised fans by sharing that the reason he'd been forced to cancel several concerts was because he was dealing with an unusual syndrome called Ramsay Hunt. Caused by a virus, it resulted in the Peaches singer suffering partial facial paralysis, which he has thankfully since recovered from.
Missy Elliott
Missy Elliott was a major force in the hip-hop world in the late 1990s and early 2000s but then seemed to disappear. It turns out that the talented performer was dealing with health problems including tremors and excessive weight loss, caused by Graves' disease, an immune system disorder that results in the overproduction of thyroid hormones. She told Billboard, "My blood pressure was always up from just overworking." She was forced to step back from the spotlight for a bit but has been quietly making music as a producer since then.
Atticus Shaffer
Atticus Shaffer, who has acted steadily since his days playing the character Brick on The Middle, is 24 years old and less than 5 feet tall, due in part to his rare condition. He has a genetic disorder known as osteogenesis imperfecta, which causes short stature and fragile bones.
Jada Pinkett Smith
Jada Pinkett Smith has alopecia, which is an immune system disorder than can cause hair loss (and, apparently, cause husbands to lose their tempers at the Oscars when people poke fun). About 2% of the population may have alopecia at some point, and it can cause everything from small patches of hair loss to total baldness.
