One of my favorite gals, Kathleen Turner, “I got rheumatoid arthritis very badly 17 years ago. Back then they didn’t have the medicines that they now have to treat it – but it didn’t help that they took so long to recognise it. I wasn’t diagnosed for a year, and my feet grew so swollen I had to wear my then husband’s [property developer Jay Weiss] trainers. When I first went to see a doctor, he said I was being vain and told me to wear larger shoes.”

She goes on to say,” It got so bad I couldn’t move my head and I was always feeling ill. Another doctor took a blood test and discovered what it was. He started me on a cocktail of drugs, which didn’t arrest the disease but allowed me to walk a little. I still couldn’t climb the stairs or hold a pen, fork or spoon, though. Doctors told me I’d be in a wheelchair for the rest of my life. I replied, ‘No, that won’t do – I only know of one or two acting roles for people in wheelchairs.’ But having arthritis helped me to get a sense of perspective. Suddenly, all that stuff about having good looks and being sexy took secondary position to just being able to walk without pain.

I was eventually prescribed steroids, which helped a little, but they made me look so puffy and bloated that rumours began to circulate that I was an alcoholic or a drug addict. I thought it might be safer to let people believe whatever they wanted.

And I wasn’t the only one – Michael J. Fox kept his Parkinson’s disease secret for years.

Hollywood hires addicts and drunks – they are familiar with those – but if you have an unfamiliar disease you definitely don’t want people to know about it, because it can kill your career.

Seven years later I really did become a drunk. I discovered that vodka kills pain, and I used it to find oblivion. I never missed a performance or showed up drunk to work, but on my days off I would drink myself blind. But then one night in 2002, I blacked out in a restaurant.

I was in The Graduate on Broadway, and I was so ashamed that the next day I got some pills that make you violently ill if you drink. I confessed everything to the cast and gave the pills to the stage manager to make sure I took them. It was the hardest thing I’ve ever done, but it was the right thing.

Thankfully, I’m now in remission from my arthritis – I just have an annual operation to replace whichever of my joints has been destroyed.

Dealing with the pain over the years altered my outlook. When I was 20 I was a lot more insecure and looked for approval from everyone, but my illness made all that seem insignificant. Now, at the age of 55, I no longer feel I need approval from anyone.”

How strong!