21/08/2025
Miranda Hart reveals she’s living ‘one day at a time’ amid ongoing health struggle
Miranda Hart has opened up about her ongoing battle with Lyme disease, revealing she now takes life “one day at a time”. The 52-year-old BBC favourite explained she’s been living with the condition for decades, having first fallen ill aged 15. Despite experiencing years of chronic fatigue and unexplainable symptoms, she wasn’t officially diagnosed until her mid-40s, when her health took a dramatic turn and she ended up bedbound after collapsing.
In a characteristically humorous video posted to Instagram, Miranda gave an update on her condition – and hinted at some big news to come. The clip began with a playful tease about appearing on Strictly Come Dancing, before she admitted: “Hello to you. Well I have news,” followed by her humming the show’s theme tune. She then added: “No I’m joking, that was a joke.. or was that a double bluff, no really it was a joke… I shouldn’t have said that… what I have done?
“No, the menopausal mounds of this body is not ready for any sort of dancefloor let alone one on national television – no one is ready for that.”
Miranda went on to reflect on her experience releasing a book last year, saying: “This time last year I was telling people rather anxiously that I had written a book about suffering from Lyme disease and other delightful associated conditions.
“I was keeping it a secret that I had just got married because it was a story in said book.I am still completely everyday amazed and grateful and blown away that people have been helped by the book, enjoyed my story and it’s helped their story.”
Touching again on the Strictly rumours – which stemmed from her public support for friend and co-star Sarah Hadland during last year’s series – Miranda clarified why she couldn’t take part in the show just yet: “That’s another reason I couldn’t do Strictly, heavens. The whole Lyme disease and chronic illness conditions, if you are a fellow sufferer then you know that it is one day at time with recovery.”
In previous interviews, Miranda has been open about the impact Lyme disease has had on her daily life, describing the condition as deeply debilitating.
“But yes, since I was 15, I’d say I’ve never had full energy. I never felt refreshed after a night’s sleep. I could never… I’d see people would go out after work or go to a party, and then go to school and think, how are you doing that?
“I just felt quite weak all the time and very strange neurological sensations as well, which doctors couldn’t explain, I had every sort of test. But yes, I’ve never felt well.”
She described the years before her diagnosis as feeling like she was “leading a half-life,” and said her eventual collapse from exhaustion brought a strange sense of “massive relief” as it marked a turning point.
“My body stopped me, and I remember having enough sort of consciousness, as it were, to say, ‘This has to be the beginning of it, this has to be, this will be my change point’.”
According to the NHS, Lyme disease is a bacterial infection transmitted to humans through infected ticks. Symptoms may include a rash, fever, headaches, muscle aches, fatigue, and a general lack of energy. While it can be treated with antibiotics, recovery can be slow, with symptoms lasting for months in some cases.
