Kathleen Turner Gets Real About Living With Rheumatoid Arthritis: ‘I’m in Constant Pain’

We’re so sorry to hear this. In a candid new interview with the Daily Mail, actress Kathleen Turner revealed that she’s been in “constant pain” after she was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis back in 1992.

“Waking up with that deep bone ache is very depressing,” the 64-year-old star confessed. “I had some tough times. Last year was hell because my medication stopped working. I’m now on something that seems to be working better, but I’m in constant pain.”

Kathleen said the chronic inflammatory disorder — that affects many joints, including those in the hands and feet — has also made her gain weight and feel very insecure about her body. “I’m much too heavy. Every time I look in a mirror I think I’ve got to lose weight! I try to eat healthily. I work out. But I can’t seem to shift it,” she said. “When I was younger, I was happy with my body. I was a great athlete. It was never about how it looked to me. It was about what my body would do. If a director said, ‘Jump across the room, now!’ I could do it and that was exhilarating.”

The Romancing the Stone star continued, “When the rheumatoid arthritis hit, the first doctor told me I’d be in a wheelchair. That was terrifying, and I got rid of that doctor. But I’d never realized until that point how entirely my confidence was based on my physicality. It was terribly hurtful, very frightening. It was a helplessness. And I’m not good at feeling helpless.”

Kathleen is still learning how to love herself today and said she ultimately wants to be the best role model she can for her 31-year-old daughter, Rachel Ann Weiss. “Be brave,” Kathleen previously told Closer Weekly of the advice she’d give her daughter. “She’s always taught me there is no halfway,” Rachel has said of her famous mom. “You must invest yourself fully.”