Julian Lennon became a Patron of the Lupus Trust in December 2010. His school friend Lucy Vodden had lupus and sadly passed away in 2009 aged just 46. Lucy was the inspiration behind the Beatles classic 'Lucy in the sky with Diamonds'.
Eddie Levert (O'Jays)
Eddie Levert, the legendary lead vocalist of The O’Jays, is mourning the loss of his youngest daughter, Ryan Levert, who has passed away at the age of 22 following a lengthy battle with lupus.
This is Eddie's third child that has passed away. Gerald passed away in 2006 at just 40 years old, while Sean died in 2008 at 39.
December 2024
Muni Long
Muni Long is an American singer and songwriter who was diagnosed with lupus in 2018.
Her lyrics have been sung by artists like Ariana Grande, Rihanna, Chris Brown, Madonna, Demi Lovato, and countless others. The song Hrs and Hrs written and performed by Muni had over 169.2M video views on TikTok and 109 million views on Youtube..
“Lupus is a stress-related disease, it’s a silent, invisible struggle ’cause you can’t see it. You wake up in the morning and you look just fine, but you really feel like you got ran over by a train. There’s a lot of different things that I’ve experienced with this diagnosis, everything from hair loss to skin rashes. Being in this business is vainglorious, so that affects my output so much. When I feel good, I look good, I produce well. When I feel like crap, and I gotta go out… Even something as small as someone touching my arm, it hurts. But I gotta smile, and I gotta talk to people when I don’t feel like talking.”
Lisa "Left Eye" Lopez
Lisa Left Eye Lopes of TLC, suffered from lupus and often supported lupus charities in the USA. She died in a car crash aged 30.
President Ferdinand Marcos
During the 1980s, Ferdinand Marcos was seriously ill and was in and out of office. He had systemic lupus erythematosus, which led to kidney failure. He was then on dialysis and later had a kidney transplant. Marcos finally died in Honolulu in 1989.
Doctors said lung and kidney failure and a widespread infection contributed to the cardiac arrest that was listed as the cause of death.
Kellie Martin
Emmy award nominated American actress, Kellie Martins sister, Heather, died of lupus in 1998 aged just 19. Kellie is most famous for her role as Lucy Knight in ER.
Marvelettes
Georgeanna Tillman (February 5, 1944 - January 6, 1980)
Georgeanna Tillman was a member of group the Marvelettes, who were Motown’s first successful girl group. They had a number of hit records such as ‘Please Mr. Postman’, ‘When you’re young and in love’ and ‘too many fish in the sea’.
By 1965, Georgeanna was battling lupus. As her health problems worsened, her doctor advised her to stop touring and she left the group for good but remained at Motown for a while as a secretary. She died in 1980 from the complications of sickle cell anaemia and lupus. The Marvelettes continued on as a trio.
Catherine McCormack
Catherine is British actress born in Alton in Hampshire. Appearing in films such as: Braveheart, Shadow of the Vampire, The Land Girls, A sound of thunder, Midnight Man and Dangerous Beauty.
Her mother died of lupus when Catherine was 6 years old.
Mary McDonough
Mary McDonaugh, best known for her role as Erin in the Waltons suffers from Lupus and when interviewed states that she thinks having breast implants in 1984 triggered the lupus as the symptoms started shortly afterwards. She played the part of a lupus sufferer having a kidney transplant in the programme ER in 1997. Mary told her story to the Lupus Trust and it has since appeared in our newsletter and on our website.
Bill Medley
Righteous Brother Bill Medley still fundraises for lupus after the other half of the Righteous Brothers, the late Bobby Hatfield’s wife Linda battled lupus. Bobby tirelessly worked to help increase awareness and raise funds for patient services and research.
Roger Moore
“When I was a child, my parents had a friend, the son of my Godparents, who had a form of lupus. He'd lost all the skin around his face, couldn't shut his eyes, he was going blind. It was horrendous to look at”.
Natalis
Natalis, is a multi-platinum, Two time Grammy Nominated Artist straight out of the Bronx, NY.
Davis Chris & Mr Foster reached out to her about working on an upcoming Gospel Album, the Good Fridays, the album was created to celebrate life because Natalis also battles with Lupus on a daily basis.
Wayne Newton
American singer and entertainer Wayne Newton’s sister-in-law, Tricia McCrone, was diagnosed with lupus in 2001 aged 30. Wayne calls Tricia "very courageous" adding "She has held her integrity and never let the disease stop her from doing anything she wanted to accomplish"
Flannery O'Connor
The famous American author, Flannery O’Connor, was born on March 25, 1925. Her father, Edward, died from lupus complications in 1941, when O’Connor was 15.
It was during this time that she wrote more than two dozen short stories and two novels. She died at in 1964 age 39 from lupus complications after fighting it for ten years.
For more information on Flannery please click here.
Victoria Principal
Actress Victoria Principal. Her father suffers from arthritis and her mother from lupus, and a number of years ago said she was beginning to suffer trace symptoms of both.
Jeramie Rain
Richard Dreyfuss’ first wife, Jeramie Rain has systemic lupus. Her pregnancy exacerbated her lupus, which was so painful that at one point she couldn’t hold her daughter.
Kristen Renton
Kristen Louise Renton is an American actor recurring as Ima Tite on Sons of Anarchy and formerly known for portraying Morgan Hollingsworth on NBC's soap opera Days of Our Lives. Kristen was diagnosed with lupus in 2010, revealing her diagnosis in 2017.
Lauren Schuler
Film producer Lauren Schuler Donner announced that she has lupus. But that won’t keep her from continuing her success as one of the most successful female producers in Hollywood.
Her first feature film was the hit comedy Mr. Mom and she followed that up with two of the most popular “Brat Pack” movies of the 1980s: Pretty in Pink and St. Elmo’s Fire. In the 1990s, Schuler Donner oversaw production on all three Free Willy films, Dave, You’ve Got Mail” and “X-men”.
Seal
Questions about his facial scares still persist. The scars were caused by a disease called lupus which Seal suffered from when he was a child. The particular strain of lupus Seal deals with causes blistering especially around the facial area, which when ruptured cause deep scarring. When questioned about his scares, Seal had often eluded to mystical or spiritual causes. In the late 80's, Seal began singing with various bands and on his own - eventually meeting producer, Adamski. Seal and Adamski collaborated on the track "Killer" which shot to number 1 in England”.
Terri Seymour
Terri Seymour is a British entertainment reporter and actress. She joined the American entertainment news show Extra as a correspondent in 2004.
She revealed that she was diagnosed as a teenager but felt that the condition had made her appreciate her life even more.
Teri said: "When I was an 18-year-old model, I developed lupus. I was in terrible pain and had to be put on a cocktail of drugs. I have been in remission for years. It's made me much more aware of my own mortality.
Teri was was honored at the 14th Annual Hollywood Bag Ladies Luncheon benefiting Lupus LA.
She has one daughter, Coco, born 9 March 2016
