Miriam Margolyes, who played herbology expert Professor Sprout in Harry Potter movies, opened up about her health issues on Sunday How to fail podcast.
Speaking to presenter Elizabeth Day, the outspoken British star — who appeared naked on the British Vogue for Pride month this year — spoke openly about how her diet affected her health and said it was contributing to her worsening spinal condition.
“I restricted my life because of my longing for sweet cakes or chopped liver, cheesecake,” said the 82-year-old. “All your nonsense. I shouldn’t have been so greedy. I should have been stronger.”
Miriam Margolyes (centre) in Harry Potter with Maggie Smith, Richard Harris.
Warner Brothers/Courtesy Everett Collection
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Margolyes has spinal stenosis, which occurs “when the space inside the spine is too small. This can put pressure on the spinal cord and the nerves that travel through the spine,” says the Mayo Clinic. Sufferers feel pain, numbness and tingling.
“It’s such a defeat,” the actress said. “A pastry with cream, chocolate or a portion of chopped liver is more important than your health, than your aesthetic presentation? No, it’s not. It’s not more important. Just greed, lack of discipline, all the things I’m ashamed of.”
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“It’s a big setback and I have spinal stenosis because of it. I can’t walk. I’ll be in a wheelchair before I’m old.”
Treatment for spinal stenosis may include steroids — either oral or injected — and physical therapy, according to the Mayo Clinic. More severe conditions may require surgery “to create more space within the spinal canal.”
And “being overweight can make spinal stenosis pain worse,” says the Cleveland Clinic.
“The only thing I didn’t win that I should have won was my weight,” Margolyes said. “I am a stupid mass. I’m fat. And being fat and being 82 is really miserable.”
Margolyes compared herself to Queen Camilla, who was 6 years younger.
“Look at Camilla, our queen,” she said. “She’s a beautiful woman; she’s got a trim body. I like her as a person… I know her a little bit. She’s great and she took care of herself and I didn’t. It wasn’t joy; it was laziness; it was greed – and I regret it because of that.”
Reflecting on her diet, the BAFTA winner says: “Fuck, it all came out of greed. I think it’s shameful.”
Magolyes says she never cared about fashion, explaining, “I just wasn’t interested in my presentation. I knew I had good eyes, lively hair and a nice smile. And I thought it would carry me through life… So f— dresses and handbags. But it’s not about that. It’s about preserving the body you came into the world with.”
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“I’ve had enough. I really messed with my body. I’m sorry about that, because I did the wrong thing. It was wonderful, with cheesecake and chopped liver and spaghetti and all the things I shouldn’t have. I enjoyed it.”
But in her signature open-ended style, Margolyes—whose other memoirs, Oh Miriam!: Stories from an unusual life, should be in January — he said that although “I want to look better; I’d like to have a flatter stomach, a stronger back, and longer legs,” she decided, “Y— that. I’m here.”
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Source: HIS Education