Featured Image Credit: Raymond Hall/GC Images
Topics: Lyme disease, Celebrity, US News, Health
Rhianna Benson
Topics: Lyme disease, Celebrity, US News, Health
A potentially-debilitating disease, notoriously rife among celebrities, has added another star to its list of victims in the form of Danielle Jonas.
The 39-year-old is wife of musician Kevin Jonas (one-third of the pop band Jonas Brothers), as well as a reality TV star, a jewellery company founder, and a mother-of-two.
Sitting down with Parents magazine yesterday (9 Oct), Danielle opened up on the latest blow to her health, revealing she was initially told by doctors that her diagnosis was something else entirely.
"They tried to tell me it was anxiety," she recalled, adding that the first symptom she experienced was partial hair loss.
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It was then that Danielle revealed she'd actually been diagnosed with a bacterial infection which is passed on by tick bites.
"Finally, I had a biopsy that showed I actually had Lyme disease," Danielle - who has been married to Jonas for 16 years - continued. "I also had eczema on my scalp, which was likely from the inflammation [caused by Lyme disease].
She went on to confess that her self-consciousness suddenly sky-rocketed as a result of her symptoms: "The hair loss was very traumatic.
"I got to a point where I wanted to wear a wig. I had to go out and do things with Kevin. I just wanted to feel like myself."
For those unfamiliar with the nature of the condition, whilst Lyme disease is transmitted via tick bites, this isn't to say that every tick bite results in a diagnosis, being that they aren't all infected with the disease.
Despite only between one and five percent of bites actually see someone diagnosed with the ailment, however, the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention estimates that around 476,000 people are dealt a Lyme disease blow each year in the US alone.
Many of these cases are seemingly occurring in Hollywood circles, already affecting the likes of Ben Stiller, Riley Keogh, Kelly Osbourne, Amy Schumer, Justin Timberlake, Justin Bieber, Shania Twain, Bella Hadid, and Avril Lavigne.
And as we say, Danielle just added another name to this seemingly ever-growing list.
Thankfully, however, she revealed her symptoms are currently under control, telling podcast listeners that her children - daughters, Alena, 11, and Valentina, eight - helped her manage the condition.
"They saw everything I went through," the TV personality continued. "So the main thing I tell them [when their eczema flares up] is 'This is going to pass'."
If anything, Danielle adds, her diagnosis - and specifically, her scalp eczema battle - has assisted in her navigating health-related with a pre-teen daughter who herself battles skin issues.
"I had to reel Alena back in a little bit," she went on to add. "Besides eczema, she’s always had other skin issues, so keeping things clean for her is important. Still, she gets mad because she wants to have fun with certain products.
"I just tell her, 'Well, do you want a flare-up or do you want it to get it under control?'. That helps her come back down."