Erin Moriarty Opens Up About Rare Autoimmune Disease During ‘The Boys’ Season

Starlight sets the record straight. As the final season of Prime Video phenomenon The Boys is currently airing, lead actress Erin Moriarty took to Instagram on Thursday, April 23, to address certain aspects of the debilitating illness she suffers from.

“Okay, so: episode 4 of season 5 is one of the most important I’ve ever filmed,” the actress shared in a story. “Unfortunately, this part of the season coincided with the peak of my health problems before my diagnosis. I spare you the rawest part of this photo, but shortly after this episode, I began to lose the ability to walk.”

In a message shared on social media in June 2025, Erin Moriarty revealed that she has been diagnosed with Graves’ disease, a rare autoimmune condition that results in hyperthyroidism, where the thyroid produces more hormones than necessary.

“I Tore My Knee”

This overproduction causes various symptoms, such as weight loss, heart issues, sweating, or menstrual irregularities in female patients. To this, changes in appearance, including a goiter and exophthalmos (bulging eyes), can be added.

“The numbness in my feet caused me to fall multiple times. The day before filming my part of this episode, I fell and tore my knee,” explained Starlight’s actress on Thursday. “I have virtually no behind-the-scenes photos of this season, especially since things got worse.”

Erin Moriarty, pictured here on Instagram.

She continues: “This is not a sob story. It’s more to say: ‘Screw you, autoimmune diseases. Seriously, screw you. And screw the ignorance surrounding them too.’ I can’t fix that ignorance, but not speaking openly about it from time to time seems like a bad thing to me.”

Erin Moriarty Targeted by Attacks

What is she referring to here? Not a word. However, as Erin Moriarty has been the target of frequent violent attacks regarding her body in the series (too stiff, for some) and her face (too altered, for others) for several seasons, it’s hard not to see a reference.

Online, there are plenty of photo montages of the actress, comparing her appearance between season 1 and the latest. Some internet users “have created mean memes comparing her to The Weeknd, when he wore prosthetics in his video Save Your Tears,” as highlighted in an article from Cosmopolitan published in April.

In 2024, a well-known host named Megyn Kelly even went so far as to say that Erin Moriarty had an “addiction” to cosmetic surgery. “More and more young women are doing this,” the presenter said at the time. “I think it looks like a sign of mental illness. I really wish I could get into the heads of these young girls and tell them, ‘Please don’t do this.'”

“It’s Like I Was Offline”

Following which Erin Moriarty took the time to respond, expressing horror at “false information that is so outrageous and so counterproductive that it ironically becomes misogynistic.” “The comments were harsh enough for me to decide to disable them (on social media, Ed.). This is harassment. This is disinformation,” she said.

Today, she fully intends to speak openly about her illness. “I have no hesitation on this,” she recently told The Hollywood Reporter, expressing disappointment at not being able to get as involved as she wanted for her character in the last season. “It’s like I was offline during the first six or seven episodes.”

She adds: “It was only from episode 7 that I managed to overcome the physical and mental consequences that this disease had inflicted on me. It shows the deep impact that autoimmune diseases can have, and I don’t think people are fully aware of it.” Looking forward to episode 8.