Gavin and Stacey star Laura Aikman has revealed she was struck down by a mystery illness that left her so unwell, she was advised to give up acting altogether.
The actress, 39, who played Smithy’s girlfriend Sonia in the hit BBC sitcom, suffered from painful and undiagnosed symptoms for years.
Laura then finally discovered she was battling ulcerative colitis, a chronic autoimmune condition that causes inflammation and ulcers in the colon.
She told The Sun: ‘It took me a long time to get diagnosed. Before I got the diagnosis I was very, very unwell and I didn’t know why.
‘I’d been to the doctors a lot and they kept telling me that it was probably piles, without examining me, and giving me cream because I had blood in my stool. Nothing worked.
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Gavin and Stacey star Laura Aikman has revealed she was struck down by a mystery illness that left her so unwell, she was advised to give up acting altogether (pictured 2024)
The actress, 39, who played Smithy’s girlfriend Sonia in the hit BBC sitcom, suffered from painful and undiagnosed symptoms for years (pictured with James Corden in the show)
It wasn’t until she saw a homeopath that the pieces started to fall into place.
She said: ‘And then I went to a homeopath and she asked me all of these questions about when I’d been poorly and she was like, “Listen, I’ve written out a timeline here of when you’ve not been working, and that is when you’ve been at your most unwell”.’
Laura said she was even asked if she could consider doing another job – but insisted acting was her ‘whole personality.’
She admitted the stress of not working between roles worsened her illness – and led to her feeling like she was letting everyone down when she attended family events and people would ask what she was up to.
The star added that she had to actively find other things in her life that gave her self-worth or made her feel important, so she could keep going regardless of whether she was working or not.
Despite the health scare, Laura stuck with acting and is now enjoying one of the biggest years of her career.
She’s currently starring in BBC gangster drama This City is Ours and Disney+’s Suspect: The Shooting of Jean Charles de Menezes, where she plays whistleblower Lana Vandenberghe.
She also returned as Sonia in last year’s Gavin and Stacey Christmas special – and starred as Dyan Cannon in ITV’s Archie, a role that saw her face beamed across billboards in Times Square.
Laura then finally discovered she was battling ulcerative colitis, a chronic autoimmune condition that causes inflammation and ulcers in the colon (pictured 2012)
But Laura says her path to success hasn’t been easy.
Speaking on the Women & Wellbeing podcast, Laura opened up about the pressure she felt early in her career.
She said: ‘When you’re starting out, you’re like, I have to be everything they want. I have to change who I am to fit. I need to be perfect.
‘I kind of struggled up until I was maybe in my mid-twenties with what people wanted me to be as a girl, a woman, in this industry and how I needed to present myself.
‘I can remember going to auditions and needing to do the lines exactly as they wanted in the blandest way possible, to try to fit whatever I thought the mould was.
‘I probably wasn’t getting the best parts when I was doing that. I never would, when I was younger, even speak to a producer.
‘I would just try to stay under the radar, do my job.
‘I’m sure I missed out on loads of work because I did absolutely zero networking. But it was that kind of thing — you’re lucky to be there, shut up, look pretty, leave. Find everyone very funny, especially the men, and then go home.’
She told The Sun: ‘It took me a long time to get diagnosed. Before I got the diagnosis I was very, very unwell and I didn’t know why (pictured 2020)
She continued: ‘I’d been to the doctors a lot and they kept telling me that it was probably piles, without examining me, and giving me cream because I had blood in my stool. Nothing worked’ (pictured 2013)
Now approaching her 40th birthday, Laura says she’s finally found freedom and no longer feels she has to prove herself through how she looks.
She explained: ‘I feel like where I am now people are almost disinterested in how I look.
‘I’ve been so lucky with the parts that I’ve played recently where, even though some of them have been very glamorous women, it’s not about me looking beautiful.
‘It’s about how that person presents themselves.’
Still, she admits she doesn’t take anything for granted, saying: ‘I feel like possibly the last few years I’ve been able to play some bigger roles in slightly higher profile shows.
‘You go through those peaks and troughs in your career where you think, “Oh, maybe this is it”, then it isn’t. So I thought, “Oh, maybe” at the moment, and then I’m sure I’ll slide back down again soon.’
Laura grew up in a showbiz family. Her father, Stuart Aikman, and her mother, actress Jean Heard, helped pave the way for her early start in the industry.
She made her big-screen debut in Surviving Picasso opposite Anthony Hopkins in 1996, and has since appeared in Casualty, Death in Paradise, The Split and more.
She said: ‘And then I went to a homeopath and she asked me all of these questions about when I’d been poorly and she was like, “Listen, I’ve written out a timeline here of when you’ve not been working, and that is when you’ve been at your most unwell” (pictured in show Personal Affairs)
Laura said she was even asked if she could consider doing another job – but insisted acting was her ‘whole personality’ (pictured in Casualty 2009)
She married actor Matt Kennard, 43 — who’s appeared in Emmerdale and Coronation Street.
Away from the cameras, Laura has trained as a counsellor with the mental health text service Shout, offering support to people in crisis.
She said: ‘It’s brilliant. You can do a shift whenever you want. People text in when they’re in crisis.
‘Obviously that’s more helpful to society than me getting a job in a TV commercial.’
She also concentrates on exercising for her health, not just for her body image, to help deal with her ulcerative colitis.
She added: ‘I drink less now. I’m no saint, I absolutely get smashed at least once a year, I just fall completely off the wagon. But I will always leave a night out early these days.
‘I’m just a bit more boring than I used to be. But overall, it really makes me feel much better.’
When she is not working, Matt, who she married six years ago, encourages her to relax.
She said: ‘He is so chilled out and very even-keeled, he’s a cool guy.
Despite the health scare, Laura stuck with acting and is now enjoying one of the biggest years of her career (pictured in show Archie in 2023)
‘I think he has also been really instrumental in encouraging me to allow myself, if I’ve not got anything on, to be like, ‘Why don’t you go to the cinema?.’
‘I’m like, “Just go and spend money on a day when I haven’t got a job?”. He’ll be like, “Yeah, just go and do something nice for yourself”.’
‘I think you can be so fooled by hearing other people talk about what they do, to think that they’re perfect — and they’re not. They’re probably falling spectacularly off the wagon.
‘So I think be kind to yourself when you’re not feeling good and just try and do the things that make you feel good.’
