{"id":2054749,"date":"2025-09-27T21:18:56","date_gmt":"2025-09-27T21:18:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/?p=2054749"},"modified":"2025-09-27T21:18:56","modified_gmt":"2025-09-27T21:18:56","slug":"how-lauren-weedman-overcame-bells-palsy-on-screen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/how-lauren-weedman-overcame-bells-palsy-on-screen\/","title":{"rendered":"How Lauren Weedman Overcame Bell\u2019s Palsy On Screen"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Actor Lauren Weedman has depended on her lovely, expressive face to make a living in Hollywood for more than three decades. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Weedman cracked audiences up in projects including \u201cDate Night,\u201d \u201cLooking,\u201d \u201cWill & Grace,\u201d \u201cArrested Development,\u201d \u201cEuphoria,\u201d \u201cSpecial\u201d and \u201cMom.\u201d Recently, she\u2019s had recurring roles on Emmy-winning comedies \u201cAbbott Elementary\u201d and \u201cHacks.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Then, in August 2024, the 56-year-old actor experienced severe facial paralysis.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Weedman had developed Bell\u2019s palsy, which temporarily paralyzes the muscles on one side of the face. The exact cause of the condition is unknown, but Bell\u2019s palsy often stems from a viral infection that inflames the facial nerve. Stress can be a contributor. Her symptoms included complete freezing of the right side of her face, an inability to align her lips and smile normally, an inability to close her right eye, headache and general malaise. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The paralysis began at the start of a three-week break from work. Weedman wasn\u2019t auditioning for new gigs. She was already employed, having shot two episodes of the new hourlong dark comedy \u201cSirens,\u201d which premiered May 22 on Netflix<\/a>. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cThe idea of sitting out and waiting for it to get better just was not an option,\u201d Weedman wrote in a text to me.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Some patients diagnosed with Bell\u2019s palsy experience drastic improvement in a few weeks. Many performers might\u2019ve stayed silent about the condition, hoping to pick up where they left off once production resumed. Weedman knew she couldn\u2019t afford to wait out the symptoms. Not only because the single mom needed the money, but because she desperately wanted to remain part of that stellar \u201cSirens\u201d ensemble.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Created by showrunner Molly Smith Metzler and based on her play \u201cElemeno Pea,\u201d the sexy, suspenseful, female-focused limited series stars Julianne Moore, Meghann Fahy, Milly Alcock, Kevin Bacon and Glenn Howerton. Weedman was cast as Patrice, the longtime chef of Moore\u2019s family. With three episodes left to shoot, that show had to go on.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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But without Weedman? Not if she had her say.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\"Lauren<\/div>\n
Lauren Weedman shared photos after experiencing symptoms of Bell’s palsy.<\/p>\n
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Courtesy of Lauren Weedman<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cI wanted to talk to [the \u201cSirens\u201d team] about it as soon as I could so I wouldn\u2019t be stressed the whole time,\u201d the actor told me over Zoom from her home in Santa Monica, California. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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A video conference was scheduled between Weedman, Metzler and Quyen Tran, the director of Episodes 3 and 4.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cAt that point, I had fallen in love with Lauren like everyone else had,\u201d Metzler said in a phone interview. \u201cI just felt awful that she was going through something like that.\u201d <\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Grateful for Weedman\u2019s forthrightness \u2014 and struck by how candidly and hilariously she spoke about her symptoms \u2014 Metzler let the actor take the lead in making next steps. Whatever she needed, they\u2019d make her performance for the series happen. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cWe didn\u2019t even wanna conceive of the show without her in it,\u201d Metzler said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\"Lauren<\/div>\n
Lauren Weedman in an episode of Netflix’s new series, “Sirens.”<\/div>\n
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\u201c[Molly] was so kind \u2026 But it was really hard for me to think that I mattered,\u201d Weedman said. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Part of it was her Midwestern upbringing. The actor was born in Terre Haute, Indiana, then adopted and raised in Indianapolis. Mainly, Weedman was embarrassed. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cYou don\u2019t make a big thing out of being hurt or sick,\u201d Weedman said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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So, she suggested they write Bell\u2019s palsy into her character\u2019s storyline. Metzler, surprised and impressed that Weedman was \u201cso, so game,\u201d agreed. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cIt\u2019s such a terrific character trait,\u201d Metzler said, adding that the tortured, long-suffering Patrice is made more relatable and likable by uttering the line, \u201cEvery summer, this happens; the stress of this job, my Bell\u2019s palsy is back.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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This wasn\u2019t Weedman\u2019s first bout with Bell\u2019s palsy. She\u2019d had a mild case while pregnant with her son, Leo, now 15, but it resolved relatively swiftly. This felt dreadfully different.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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By the time she returned to set, Weedman had gone through steroid and antiviral therapy, was receiving acupuncture and had quit drinking to reduce inflammation. At night, she\u2019d tape her right eye shut to keep it from drying out. While she feared her performance would suffer, it didn\u2019t. But the fatigue and pain were unrelenting, and the prospect of watching herself made Weedman cringe. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cIf it serves the character, I don\u2019t care if I look heavy or fat or bad or whatever,\u201d she declared. \u201cBut this one was a new level of [vanity].\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Once \u201cSirens\u201d wrapped, Weedman still wasn\u2019t out of the woods. She\u2019d long ago booked two recurring guest spots: \u201cAbbott Elementary,\u201d where she plays Kristin Marie Schemmenti, the snarky sister of Melissa (Lisa Ann Walter), and \u201cHacks,\u201d where she portrays feisty Las Vegas Mayor Jo Pezzimenti. In both, she took the same tack.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cOur first and foremost concern was her health, and whether she felt comfortable being on camera,\u201d \u201cHacks\u201d creator, showrunner and director Lucia Aniello shared via email. \u201cWhen she said she wanted to shoot, we just went with it!\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Quinta Brunson, creator and star of ABC\u2019s \u201cAbbott Elementary,\u201d said she was \u201creally excited about the opportunity\u201d to keep working with Weedman through the condition.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\"Lauren<\/div>\n
Lauren Weedman appeared in the 2024 Christmas episode of “Abbott Elementary.”<\/div>\n
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\u201cThe way I look at it, that is what normalizes any form of otherness,\u201d Brunson said. \u201cHer dealing with it falls in line with who [Lauren] is. She just rolls with the punches and does her job.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Weedman\u2019s face has visibly improved since shooting \u201cSirens,\u201d \u201cAbbott\u201d and \u201cHacks,\u201d but her neurologist recently cautioned it might take a full year for her to recover completely. She credits talent reps Christie Smith and Lindsay Cohen of Rise Management with recently helping her land a guest spot as a psychotherapist on the upcoming second season of Netflix\u2019s \u201cNobody Wants This.\u201d But she also said she lost parts on at least two series \u2014 a new comedy, an Emmy-nominated drama \u2014 due to not yet having regained full control of her facial features. <\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Weedman is at peace with all of it because she\u2019s \u201cso happy\u201d she was able to keep working. <\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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And so, she marches on, buoyed by the unconditional support of her teen son, who told her, \u201cMom, it\u2019s no big deal. This is your Bell\u2019s palsy era, that\u2019s all.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n

\u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.celebrity.land \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Actor Lauren Weedman has depended on her lovely, expressive face to make a living in Hollywood for more than three decades. Weedman cracked audiences up in projects including \u201cDate Night,\u201d \u201cLooking,\u201d \u201cWill & Grace,\u201d \u201cArrested Development,\u201d \u201cEuphoria,\u201d \u201cSpecial\u201d and \u201cMom.\u201d Recently, she\u2019s had recurring roles on Emmy-winning comedies \u201cAbbott Elementary\u201d and \u201cHacks.\u201d Then, in August […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2054750,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25173],"tags":[382119],"class_list":["post-2054749","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-artists","tag-lauren-weedman"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/How-Lauren-Weedman-Overcame-Bells-Palsy-On-Screen.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2054749","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2054749"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2054749\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2054750"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2054749"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2054749"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2054749"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}