Actress Lauren Weedman thought Bell's palsy might end her acting career. Instead, she turned her health crisis into comedy.

Yahoo

5 days ago

It seemed like Lauren Weedman had finally found her rhythm onscreen.
A working actress for more than two decades, she landed back-to-back roles on some of TV's biggest hits, including scene-stealing turns in Hacks and Abbott Elementary. Last summer she had just traveled from Los Angeles to New York to appear alongside Kevin Bacon and Julianne Moore in Netflix's Sirens, where she plays chef Patrice, when one trip to the gym in between shooting days changed everything.
'I remember finishing a shoot and going to the gym for cardio. I took a drink of water, and it dribbled out the side of my mouth. I thought maybe there was a hole in the bottle. I tried again. Same thing. Then I got home, showered, looked in the mirror — and there was no denying it,' she tells Yahoo Entertainment.
The 56-year-old actress was unexpectedly diagnosed with Bell's palsy, a condition that temporarily paralyzed one side of her face, forcing her to slow down and reassess everything.
'I had a moment where my ego could not fit in my bra,' she joked during a nearly hour-long Zoom conversation last month. 'I was like, I am on all the shows! This is crazy!'
Weedman, who is also known for roles in Looking, Euphoria and Arrested Development, had been riding high, only to be thrown off course by the health scare that would reshape how she moved through her life and career.
"I was pushing myself, trying to keep everything going — making money, looking a certain way. And then suddenly, it's like I stroked out," she says. "That's what it felt like."
Below, the actor and writer opens up about navigating her career with Bell's palsy, her love of acting and why she thinks her best chapter might still be ahead.
Can you take me back to when this all started and you were diagnosed with Bell's palsy one year ago?
I was in denial about how stress affects your body. I don't like getting into that kind of stuff because it's so boring.
You can get into it with me — I mean, it's true!
This has been — not the struggle — but Bell's palsy is not like cancer. To talk about it feels like it's not the hugest thing, but it feels like such a big deal to me. It's unnerving. I live in California and was shooting Sirens in New York. I felt like it was worth trying to make it work, to find places to stay out there. I'm a single mom, so I gotta figure out who's gonna be with my [then 14-year-old] kid while I'm gone, and I don't have a ton of support from the ex. There was a little bit of stress in that, that I didn't even think about. But I thought, I'm a theater person. I'm used to being scrappy and figuring it out. I didn't realize how much I was pushing myself. I was 55 then, and I don't think I was accepting how tired I was. I just kept going.
What did you do after you first realized something was wrong at the gym?
I was talking to a friend on the phone, this guy I'd been seeing. And that was also part of the stress — a relationship that was falling apart. He wasn't really there for me emotionally, and that was hard. So I tell him what's going on, and he says, "Take your blood pressure." It was really high. He goes, "You might need to go to the hospital. It could be a stroke." I had been having headaches too — pain behind my ear. I thought it was sinuses. Apparently, there are no sinuses back there.
I went to the ER, and they immediately suspected stroke. But when the doctor saw me, he said it was Bell's palsy. Gave me antivirals, steroids. I told production I'd be fine in three weeks. That was wishful thinking.
I wanted to be upfront, not spend time worrying. I've always believed in using the truth in acting. And I thought, this character? It would be fine if she had Bell's palsy. She's not the romantic lead. I don't want to say nobody gives a shit about her, but …
She's hilarious! We love smoothie-making Patrice.
Thank you. I haven't watched all of it. I got nervous about seeing my face. But I felt like I didn't really matter much to the show.
But your character is one that makes the show work. It feels like a true ensemble. That dinner table scene when you and other guest stars are with Julianne Moore, Kevin Bacon — it's one of the most memorable ones.
Yes! That's a good example. I was sick that day. Didn't understand what was going on yet ... I had to leave the set often ... it was awful. I'd never been sick like that while working. It was … depressing. Isolating. And I thought about all the people who shoot through cancer, who are shooting through illnesses and they keep going. You don't want to shut down production. And meanwhile, I'm thinking, "I'm going to be on camera. This is all being documented. This might be the end of my [career]." But in some ways, it's been kind of amazing.
You turned a crisis into comedy. The scene when you're huddling in the pantry and you say, "My Bell's palsy is back." How did you decide to incorporate that into the character? Was it easy to be that vulnerable on camera?
I didn't decide that I wanted to be vulnerable. It just happens by accident. I've always come up through solo theater, which is always about turning my life into art. I've written books; I teach about writing about your life. So I felt very sure that if they would let me use it, it could work.
And honestly, I thought the character needed something more. I'm not insulting the writing! But it felt like, OK, I'm the lesbian chef. I've played lesbian chefs multiple times. That's a type for me. So when I suggested incorporating the Bell's palsy ... I wanted to talk to the creator. I had a Zoom call with the showrunner [Molly Smith Metzler] and the director. I wanted them to see my face, to understand what we were dealing with. I explained what I wanted to do, and they were so kind. They were like, "Lauren, you are the opposite of vanity. What you are doing is so strong."
And I truly thought — I don't know if I have trust issues or if I just was sick and in a weird space — I was like, they're just saying that because they feel really sorry for me. They're probably looking at me going like, let's be really nice. I couldn't almost accept that they were as kind as they actually were. Molly is over-the-top kind. Like, she's a kindness that I really don't understand. I'm like, are you trying to get into heaven?
She's like, "Lauren, this is what creating with females is like. Whatever you have to do — we want to support you in any way. If you feel like you want to take more time, we'll give you time. If you want to be on camera and use it, we'll do that."
I said I'll definitely take that one. So it worked out. I just improvised in that scene and did the same thing with Abbott Elementary. We wrote it in too. Hacks is the only one that didn't write it in. They just made it that I was a little drunk!
All three of those shows are female-led productions. I'm not trying to throw shade at men here —
It's hard not to! Because it really is different.
Have you had experiences during this health journey where a set hasn't been so welcoming?
The only thing that bummed me out was one experience with a makeup artist. I won't say which show, but … I had this idea — because I'd been watching drag queens tape their faces that maybe I could tape my face to lift the paralyzed side. So I told the makeup artist, "Hey, I'm thinking about taping." She said, "Let's see when you get here." But when she saw me, she was like, Oh my God. I said, "I know ... is there anything we can do?" And she said the tape wouldn't work, you'd see it on camera, it's too much. And she said, "I don't know what to do. Listen, you're sick, all right? You are." It felt honest, actually. She said, "You're going through something pretty big right now. I don't know. There's not much we can do."
After she left. A different makeup artist who was there for the day came up to me and said, "Hey, would you like a little bit of makeup?" I started crying. I thought I didn't want to be vain — it's so important to me to like I don't care. I wanted to be above that. But I said yes. She was so nurturing. Later, she told me she was also a healer and massage therapist. I realized that's the kind of energy I needed.
Everyone treats me like I'm so tough. But what I needed was someone to say ... I'm sorry this is happening, and she acknowledged that. The other woman had been a little harsh. It really stuck with me. Honestly, the shows have been incredibly supportive. The only thing that still bothers me is when people say, "I didn't even notice it!" I'm like, is that gaslighting of emotion? Because what do you mean you didn't notice it?
When you're put in an unexpectedly difficult situation like this, I think it's OK to use it to your advantage if you can. Have you had more opportunities since coming forward with your diagnosis?
Not really. The idea is that it'll go away. I lost some jobs because of this. But then I found a way to audition. I didn't end up getting a part in Palm Royale, but I was close — and it was because they cut the role. I've learned how to audition with just one side of my face. I just booked my first job having Bell's palsy where it didn't even come up at all.
Is it ? My favorite show of last year.
Yes! I'm a guest star. I wish that would shift a bit, but I'm happy for the work.
When you look back at your work — , , — is there one role you're especially proud of?
No-brainer. I liked Euphoria a lot, because the experience mattered to me. I got to sit and listen to Hunter [Schafer] — she helped write that episode, and it was incredibly personal. I truly felt like I was witnessing the evolution of humanity by listening to her talk about being trans. It was deep. I loved it. But it was only one or two days of shooting.
Looking by far is the one I'm proudest of. It's the only show I was a series regular on. Even before I got that status, I loved being part of it.
So what are your career goals from here? What would you love to do?
I'm always working on my own stuff, but I haven't been able to as much since Bell's palsy. Normally, I'm doing TV stuff here and there, while also writing, performing live shows, painting ... all artsy things. TV used to afford me that.
I remember hiking with a friend — she's also an actress — and she said, "Lauren, we're done. If we haven't become known by now, we're just going to stay in this guest star spot. They're not going to cast us as leads." And I was like, "Well, I'm not done." I want to act more. I just keep thinking I'm going to keep acting more. I said something so corny, but I was like, "If you love it, it's gonna love you back." I truly love acting and working.
There was this period when I felt embarrassed by not being more successful.
I assumed it was because I wasn't attractive enough. Like, I truly was like, I'm not hot, I'm not on-camera hot. I'm not a love interest. I'm the lesbian chef.
That resentful period has passed. I'm post-menopause; I'm older. I've gotten way more into acting again. I love working on auditions. If I'm not worried about money — I have a pretty low-key life. I have a rent-controlled apartment, so I don't have a lot of overhead. You don't make a lot of money as a guest star. But that's OK. I really believe I'm gonna keep doing more. I'm glad my story is helping other people ... I keep hearing from people with Bell's palsy now. I get a lot of emails, which is so sweet. It's been bringing so much love.