Cybill Shepherd’s current and past health issues
Cybill Shepherd’s portrayal of Jacy Farrow in The Last Picture Show captured the world’s and Elvis Presley’s attention. Presley contacted Shepherd and arranged a meeting in Memphis. Shepherd’s fame exploded due to her short-lived romance with the King of Rock ‘n’ Roll.
The talented and stunning Shepherd had a knack for attracting unflattering headlines; she wowed on screen and courted controversy off it. Thankfully for her, the scandals did little to hamper Shepherd’s career.
Shepherd recently starred in How to Murder Your Husband: The Nancy Brophy Story, a film about a crime author who faces accusations of killing her husband.
Shepherd’s friends are reportedly concerned for her as she battles arthritis
According to RadarOnline, Shepherd’s arthritis prevents her from walking without assistance. Shepherd was recently pictured by the Daily Mail using a cane while walking her dogs.
“Her decline is so sad and tragic,” a source said. “She was once a Hollywood bombshell with a body and beauty to die for, but now she looks bloated and frail and has trouble moving without assistance.”
The outlet reported that Shepherd’s friends are concerned for her well-being.
Shepherd battled cancer and irritable bowel syndrome
In 2001, doctors diagnosed Shepherd with melanoma, a deadly form of skin cancer. Shepherd hid the diagnosis as she underwent treatment.
She opened up about the disease three years after she went into remission. “It changes your life totally,” Shepherd told The Irish Examiner in 2004. “I was born with it on the back of my neck. I’ll be cancer free in January for three years.” Shepherd’s team revealed there were no signs of disease recurrence.
Shepherd also battled chronic irritable bowel syndrome. Shepherd told The Massachusetts Daily Collegian that it took 20 years for doctors to diagnose her correctly:
“My doctor told me it was nothing. It was psychological, all in my head. There’s nothing to make you go crazy like being told that pain is all in your head . . . The bloating was so bad that sometimes a costume wouldn’t fit from day to day and I would just have to leave it unzipped in [the] back.”
Shepherd stated that the correct medication relieved her symptoms. In 2005, it was unusual for a Hollywood star to talk so candidly about a condition ordinary people struggle to hide. However, Shepherd never shied away from discussing health issues throughout her career.
“I’ve been talking about unmentionables for 30 years,” Shepherd said. “My first real cause was reproductive freedom, and it still is, but I also helped bring menopause out of the closet.”
Shepherd donates to causes fighting multiple sclerosis, which her daughter Clementine suffers from. At the annual Race to Erase MS gala in Los Angeles, Shepherd told Extra:
“I remember the day when I went with my daughter Clementine up to University of California San Francisco, to one of the experts on multiple sclerosis, and it was positive. She’s done great though. I couldn’t ask for more. My darling Clementine.”
