Marvelettes

Georgeanna Tillman (February 5, 1944 - January 6, 1980)

Georgeanna Tillman was a member of group the Marvelettes, who were Motown’s first successful girl group. They had a number of hit records such as ‘Please Mr. Postman’, ‘When you’re young and in love’ and ‘too many fish in the sea’.

By 1965, Georgeanna was battling lupus. As her health problems worsened, her doctor advised her to stop touring and she left the group for good but remained at Motown for a while as a secretary. She died in 1980 from the complications of sickle cell anaemia and lupus. The Marvelettes continued on as a trio.

Catherine McCormack

Catherine is British actress born in Alton in Hampshire. Appearing in films such as: Braveheart, Shadow of the Vampire, The Land Girls, A sound of thunder, Midnight Man and Dangerous Beauty.

Her mother died of lupus when Catherine was 6 years old.

Mary McDonough

Mary McDonaugh, best known for her role as Erin in the Waltons suffers from Lupus and when interviewed states that she thinks having breast implants in 1984 triggered the lupus as the symptoms started shortly afterwards. She played the part of a lupus sufferer having a kidney transplant in the programme ER in 1997. Mary told her story to the Lupus Trust and it has since appeared in our newsletter and on our website.

Bill Medley

Righteous Brother Bill Medley still fundraises for lupus after the other half of the Righteous Brothers, the late Bobby Hatfield’s wife Linda battled lupus. Bobby tirelessly worked to help increase awareness and raise funds for patient services and research.

Roger Moore

“When I was a child, my parents had a friend, the son of my Godparents, who had a form of lupus. He'd lost all the skin around his face, couldn't shut his eyes, he was going blind. It was horrendous to look at”.

Natalis

Natalis, is a multi-platinum, Two time Grammy Nominated Artist straight out of the Bronx, NY.

Davis Chris & Mr Foster reached out to her about working on an upcoming Gospel Album, the Good Fridays, the album was created to celebrate life because Natalis also battles with Lupus on a daily basis.

Wayne Newton

American singer and entertainer Wayne Newton’s sister-in-law, Tricia McCrone, was diagnosed with lupus in 2001 aged 30. Wayne calls Tricia "very courageous" adding "She has held her integrity and never let the disease stop her from doing anything she wanted to accomplish"

Flannery O'Connor

The famous American author, Flannery O’Connor, was born on March 25, 1925. Her father, Edward, died from lupus complications in 1941, when O’Connor was 15.

It was during this time that she wrote more than two dozen short stories and two novels. She died at age 39 from lupus complications.

Victoria Principal

Actress Victoria Principal. Her father suffers from arthritis and her mother from lupus, and a number of years ago said she was beginning to suffer trace symptoms of both.

Jeramie Rain

Richard Dreyfuss’ first wife, Jeramie Rain has systemic lupus. Her pregnancy exacerbated her lupus, which was so painful that at one point she couldn’t hold her daughter.

Kristen Renton

Kristen Louise Renton is an American actor recurring as Ima Tite on Sons of Anarchy and formerly known for portraying Morgan Hollingsworth on NBC's soap opera Days of Our Lives. Kristen was diagnosed with lupus in 2010, revealing her diagnosis in 2017.

Joy Rose

Joy Rose, lead singer Housewives on Prozac. Fifteen years ago, Joy Rose was a stay-at-home mum with 4 children.

Ten days after her youngest was born, she was diagnosed with Lupus, which in her case was life-threatening.

Seven years, multiple hospital stays and one kidney transplant later, Joy made a commitment to do as much as she could to empower herself and other women to lead better lives. So she became a rock star!

Lauren Schuler

Film producer Lauren Schuler Donner announced that she has lupus. But that won’t keep her from continuing her success as one of the most successful female producers in Hollywood.

Her first feature film was the hit comedy Mr. Mom and she followed that up with two of the most popular “Brat Pack” movies of the 1980s: Pretty in Pink and St. Elmo’s Fire. In the 1990s, Schuler Donner oversaw production on all three Free Willy films, Dave, You’ve Got Mail” and “X-men”.

Seal

Questions about his facial scares still persist. The scars were caused by a disease called lupus which Seal suffered from when he was a child. The particular strain of lupus Seal deals with causes blistering especially around the facial area, which when ruptured cause deep scarring. When questioned about his scares, Seal had often eluded to mystical or spiritual causes. In the late 80's, Seal began singing with various bands and on his own - eventually meeting producer, Adamski. Seal and Adamski collaborated on the track "Killer" which shot to number 1 in England”.

Terri Seymour

Terri Seymour is a British entertainment reporter and actress. She joined the American entertainment news show Extra as a correspondent in 2004.

She revealed that she was diagnosed as a teenager but felt that the condition had made her appreciate her life even more.

Teri said: "When I was an 18-year-old model, I developed lupus. I was in terrible pain and had to be put on a cocktail of drugs. I have been in remission for years. It's made me much more aware of my own mortality.

Teri was was honored at the 14th Annual Hollywood Bag Ladies Luncheon benefiting Lupus LA.

She has one daughter, Coco, born 9 March 2016

Will Smith

Will Smith and his wife Jada Pinkett Smith are big supporters. Jada's high school friend and cousin have both been diagnosed with lupus. Her aunt, Karen Evans, almost died from complications of lupus.

Snoop Dogg

Snoop Dogg has credited his daughter Cori's battle with lupus with bringing the rapper closer to his wife Shante, insisting the life-threatening illness helped to save their faltering marriage. Snoop admits the turning point in their relationship came when young Cori was diagnosed with the autoimmune disorder in 2005 - and her subsequent health battle made the hip-hop star and his wife realize they had to stay "together forever".

But he's in awe of how strong Cori, now 11, has been throughout the health crisis - despite struggling with the side effects lupus, which caused her hair to fall out and affected her weight. Snoop explains, "My daughter is the love of my life. When she'd lay in bed saying, 'My brain hurts', it bothered me so much. I felt helpless... (But) she's the toughest little thing I've ever met, even with the needles."

And Cori has managed to keep her lupus under control to enjoy a normal childhood. Her proud father adds, "She's on the honor roll, playing volleyball and softball, living life. She has all this joy. In the beginning lupus was winning. But now Cori is."

David Spade

Actor David Spade revealed that his mother Judith had lupus when he  recalled the embarrassing moment he introduced her to Selena Gomez on the Tonight Show.

Both David and Selena do voiceovers for the animated film Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation. So when it came time for the premiere, Spade decided to invite his family members, including his mother, his daughter Harper and his niece Bea—the daughter of the late Kate Spade.

To see the video clip click here.

Kelly Stone

Sharon Stones sister Kelly has lupus (pictured with Sharon and Melanie Griffiths). Sharon and Kelly Stone have been major supporters since Kelly was diagnosed some years ago.

SWV (Sisters with Voices)

SWV’s Cheryl “Coko” Gamble took in her late cousin Sheila Laney’s 2 children, she promised to care for her Sheila’s 12-year-old son, DJ, and daughter, Nevea, before her cousin passed away.

Coko said: “She was sick, she had lupus and we feel like she knew that she was sick already and that she wouldn’t be here much longer because she was getting things in order. We were like, ‘Of course, sure, no problem,’ and she was getting paperwork in order and everything. Shortly thereafter, she got really sick and she passed away, and so here we are today.”