'Buffy' Actress Emma Caulfield Ford Said She Has Been Diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis

LOS ANGELES – "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" alum Emma Caulfield Ford said in an interview with Vanity Fair recently that she was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis (MS) 12 years ago.

"I woke up one morning and the left side of my face felt like there were a million ants crawling on it," said the "WandaVision" and "Agatha: Coven of Chaos" actress. "It was like an out-of-body experience... I'm like, 'No, that's not possible.' I'm like, 'What are you talking about?' [The doctor] was very matter of fact about it. It was literally a kind of nightmare."

She initially hid her condition from her co-workers because she "didn't want to give anyone the opportunity not to hire me." She said, "There are already plenty of reasons to not hire people, reasons most actors don't even know. 'You look like my ex-girlfriend… You're too short. You're too tall. You look mean. You look too nice. You don't have the right color eyes.' I knew in my bones that if you talk about this, you're just going to stop working. That's it."

Despite the challenges of the disease, Ford remains upbeat. "Truthfully, my attitude is not crumbling under the fear of 'what if' or 'what can,' or 'what has' for other people," she said. "I just have to keep going."