SIMON COWELL's ex-girlfriend TERRI SEYMOUR has confirmed she was diagnosed with lupus as a teenager, insisting the life-threatening illness has made her "more aware" of her own "mortality".

Seymour has revealed she was struck down with the incurable condition at the age of 18, when she was at the beginning of her modeling career.

The 36 year old underwent treatment and is now "in remission", but admits the deadly illness has encouraged her to live life to the full.

She says, "When I was an 18-year-old model, I developed lupus, a disease where the body's own immune system attacks healthy cells and tissues."

"I was in terrible pain and had to be put on a cocktail of drugs. I have been in remission for years, but it's made me much more aware of my own mortality."

Pop star Lady Gaga revealed earlier this month (Jun10) that she tested "borderline positive" for lupus and is taking extra precautions to ensure she doesn't develop the condition.

I applaud Terri for going public with her lupus diagnosis.  This is such a brief article so I am very interested in learning when she went into remission and if she attributes it to any medicine, therapy, etc.  I am always so fascinated and filled with hope when I hear that others have gone into remission. 

I also wonder if she came forward due to Lady Gaga's admission in early June.  I think anyone in Hollywood who has lupus would be floored by all of the press Lady Gaga receives every time she mentions lupus.  Also, a majority of the public reaction was very positive and supportive.  Hopefully, this will result in more celebrities disclosing that they have lupus even if motivated only by gaining press coverage.  I used to believe that celebrities with lupus chose not to disclose this because then they would cost more to insure them on movie sets, etc.  But that doesn't make sense because I am sure the insurance companies require medical records for such large amounts of insurance so they wold know if a celebrity has lupus.  So the only thing I can think of is they are worried about discrimination; they fear they will not be hired if there is concern that they could get sick during filming, be too fatigued, etc.  But after such an outpouring of public support for Lady Gaga, I hope that Hollywood has become more accepting.  Lady Gaga has had such an impact on awareness of lupus; I would hope that others would want to do the same.   I believe everyone was put on this earth for a reason and if a celebrity gets lupus, they should use their celebrity to create more awareness, acceptance and support for lupus sufferers.

I hope Terri continues in healthy remission.  Hopefully she will follow Lady Gaga's lead and use her celebrity status to benefit lupus through charitable donations, interviews, etc.  I also hope she shares more in future interviews about her experience with lupus and details on her remission and what she attributes it too.

xoxo

Lupus Celebrity