BUFFY and WANDAVISION Actress Emma Caulfield Reveals Her MS Diagnosis and Confirms She'll Return For AGATHA Spin-Off Series
Actress Emma Caulfield, known for her roles on Beverly Hills, 90210, General Hospital, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Once Upon a Time, and WandaVision, has revealed she has multiple sclerosis in a new interview with Vanity Fair. She also confirmed her return to the WandaVision universe in Kathryn Hahn's upcoming Marvel series Agatha: Coven of Chaos that is headed to Disney+.
She talked about her condition, explaining:
"Once upon a time, I had zero health problems. Back in 2010, I was working on [executive producer] Marti Noxon's Gigantic, and prior to starting that job, I woke up one morning and the left side of my face felt like there were a million ants crawling on it. That feeling when you've sat in a position too long? ... The feeling's gone and it's coming back like a rush of blood. Then it just sort of went, I wouldn't say completely numb, because I could still scratch it and feel my nails. But it was extremely dull. I went to my acupuncturist, and he was like, 'I don't know, man. Maybe you have Bell's palsy?'"
At the insistence of her acupuncturist, Caulfield went to a neurologist for an MRI. She received the call confirming her MS diagnosis when she returned to set.
"I had five minutes down or whatever. And he was like: 'You have MS.' Just like that. It was like an out-of-body experience. I'm like, 'No, that's not possible.' I'm like, 'What are you talking about?' He was very matter-of-fact about it. 'Well, you can get a second opinion…' It was literally a kind of nightmare…. It turns out it was something major. Then I was like, 'I've got to go to work now.' What do I do?"
Caulfield promised she's feeling "OK right now," saying, "Truthfully, my attitude is not crumbling under the fear of 'what if' or 'what can,' or 'what has' for other people. I just have to keep going."
After starring in four episodes of WandaVision as Sarah Proctor (who appears in Wanda Maximoff's black-and-white fantasy world as her neighbor Dottie Jones) opposite Elizabeth Olsen's Scarlet Witch, Caulfield is set to reprise her role in Hahn's spin-off series centering on her villainous witch, Agatha Harkness.
It’s awful to hear that she is facing such a difficult diagnosis, but it’s great to hear that she will be back for Agatha: Coven of Chaos, set to debut on Disney+ in 2023.