Marisa Abela has admitted she is ‘still slightly vain’ following her battle with thyroid cancer because the condition has made it more difficult to manage her weight.
The Industry star, 29, was diagnosed with the disease in 2020 aged just 23 and had to undergo an eight-hour operation to remove the tumour.
Once the gland is removed, this can cause hypothyroidism which slows the body’s metabolism as it is not making enough hormones.
In a candid interview on the How To Fail with Elizabeth Day podcast on Wednesday, Marisa opened up about how this has changed her relationship with her body.
She said: ‘I’m hard on myself, especially as an actor I have to see myself all the time.
‘My number one thing now is that when I think about food it’s healthy choices, not just skinny choices, but it hasn’t quite done enough. Of course I’m still slightly vain and I want to look good.
Marisa Abela has admitted she is ‘still slightly vain’ following her battle with thyroid cancer because the condition has made it more difficult to manage her weight
The Industry star, 29, was diagnosed with the disease in 2020 aged just 23 and had to undergo an eight-hour operation to remove the tumour (pictured in April 2025)
‘It’s a difficult one because the thyroid is one of the hormones you need for your metabolism to be working, so it’s been a lot more difficult for me since the illness to stay fit.
‘At the beginning I thought I was going to have peace with my body, but what’s difficult is now I have to work harder to maintain a healthy physique.’
The actress, who won a BAFTA for her role as Yasmin Hanani in the hit HBO series, added: ‘You want to be a perfect person afterwards and it’s so stupid, as if.’
Throughout her ‘bleak’ cancer battle, Marisa revealed the lengthy surgery she underwent put her at risk of losing her voice.
She explained ‘I had to sign a form that said if they cut the nerve that’s attached to my voice box, I’m not going to sue them.
‘It was bleak, but it’s everything else that comes with it. I was thinking, “Will I be able to be an actor, will I be able to speak, will anyone employ me with a big scar on my neck?” You have all these vanity things.
‘It was the first time at 23 that I thought am I going to want to have children and does this affect that.’
The Back To Black star explained that what got her through it all was her husband, West End actor Jamie Bogyo, 31, and his support is how she knew he was ‘the one’.
Throughout her ‘bleak’ cancer battle, Marisa revealed the lengthy surgery she underwent put her at risk of losing her voice (pictured this month at the season four screening of Industry)
The star said she knew her husband, actor Jamie Bogyo, 31, was ‘the one’ when he supported her through her cancer battle just a year into their relationship (pictured in June 2025)
The couple met when they were both students at prestigious acting school the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) in 2016 and tied the knot in an in a romantic manor house wedding in Sussex in September 2025.
Marisa said: ‘He [Jamie] was an immense help and it was one of the moments where I knew that this was the person I wanted to be with forever.
‘I think it’s equally as important to have someone that supports you when you’re up and when you’re down.
‘Jamie is great at both. He’s there on a red carpet with me when I’m really proud of my work and is the number one person that’s always like “look how great she is”, but also when things aren’t good he is right there and he looks after me.
‘He is the most supportive person in every way and I’m so lucky.’
Marisa went on to say that he was there for her despite having only been together for a year at the time.
‘When I came out of the surgery I had a really gnarly scar and it was all the way from my neck to the top of my ear and it was stapled, bloody and intense, and he was just like, “you look so beautiful”.’
Marisa rose to fame in the HBO hit TV series Industry, playing the controversial Yasmin Hanani
The star accepted the Leading Actress Award for Industry during the 2025 BAFTA Television Awards in London in May
The Back To Black actress also starred as Amy Winehouse in the biopic which received mixed reviews from critics (pictured)
Marisa and Jamie became engaged in July 2024 during a stroll on London’s Primrose Hill, which is where they first met during a student meet-up.
In an interview with The Sunday Times’ Style magazine, Marisa admitted the proposal came as a surprise, revealing she had expected it to happen weeks earlier while they were in Paris.
But what was supposed to be a romantic mini-break turned into disaster when Jamie contracted a sickness bug.
She said: ‘We were at dinner with friends and he went back to the hotel saying he was ill but that I should stay.’
Pretending to play along with what she thought was going to be a proposal, the actress continued: ‘I got back later, expecting roses and champagne to be everywhere, and instead found Jamie in a ball on the floor being sick!’
