Olivia Williams, the star of The Crown, is facing cancer. But, in a recent update, she revealed she will never be free from it.
During an interview with The Times, the actress shared her journey that she faced multiple health issues including prolonged fatigue, chronic diarrhea, and limb aches.
But her case was first misdiagnosed with lupus and perimenopause, and it took four years after the cancerous tumour was found in her pancreas in 2018.
“If someone had ****** well diagnosed me in the four years I’d been saying I was ill, when they told me I was menopausal or had irritable bowel syndrome or [was] crazy,” the 56-year-old said.
She continued, “I used that word advisedly because one doctor referred me for a psychiatric assessment — then one operation possibly could have cleared the whole thing and I could describe myself as cancer-free, which I cannot now ever be.”
It took “21 doctor visits” to correctly diagnose the issue. Despite the removal of the initial tumour, the cancer had spread to other parts of the body.
“I go in like a puppy with this optimistic, bright face and then they give me bad news and it’s like, ‘Oh my God, I fell for it again,'” she said.
“They’ve found new metastases pretty well either just before Christmas or in the middle of a summer holiday,” the actress noted.
“Then, for three years in a row, they started appearing too close to major blood vessels to zap. So there was a period when we were just sitting and watching them grow, which is a horrible feeling,” Olivia concluded.
