Gavin and Stacey star told to give up acting career because of mystery illness

Gavin and Stacey star Laura Aikman revealed she was advised to change her job after she was diagnosed with an illness that made her 'very unwell'
Gavin and Stacey star Laura Aikman revealed she was told to give up her acting career after she was struck down a mystery illness. The 39-year-old actress, known for playing Smithy's partner Sonia in the popular sitcom, struggled with painful symptoms for many years before she learned she had ulcerative colitis.
Ulcerative colitis is a chronic autoimmune condition which causes inflammation and ulcers in the colon. Symptoms include recurring diarrhoea, stomach pain, needing to poo frequently as well as extreme fatigue and loss of appetite. In a recent interview, Laura revealed it took her a 'long time' before she was diagnosed and spent a long time 'very, very unwell'.
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She explained The Sun: "I'd been to the doctors a lot and they kept telling me that it was probably piles, without examining me, and giving me cream because I had blood in my stool. Nothing worked.
"And then I went to a homeopath and she asked me all of these questions about when I'd been poorly and she was like, 'Listen, I've written out a timeline here of when you've not been working, and that is when you've been at your most unwell'."
The actor was asked whether she would consider finding another career but insisted acting was her 'entire personality'. The stress from not working between acting roles ended up worsening her illness.
Laura is now in a BBC gangster drama called This City is Ours. She also stars in Disney+'s Suspect: The Shooting of Jean Charles de Menezes as Lana Vandenberghe.
Last year, she reprised her role as Sonia in the Gavin and Stacey Christmas special. She was also in ITV's Archie, Joan and The Rising.
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The star previously discussed her role on This City Is Ours. The actress, whose surprise appearance as Smithy's bride in the Christmas Day special shocked the nation, stars as Rachel Duffy in BBC One 's drugs drama This City Is Ours.
Filming on the big-budget series took place last year, at the same time as Laura was filming Gavin and Stacey. 'It was the year of the bitch,' laughs Laura. 'But they're great to play.'
While pretentious Sonia was what Laura cheerfully called a 'rotter', Rachel is a much darker character, with ambitions to become a major player in Liverpool's dark drugs scene.
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It was a refreshing role for Laura, having spent much of her career playing romantic love interests. 'One of the first things I fell in love with about Rachel was that she never tries to make other people feel comfortable,' explained Laura earlier this year. 'We all have that tendency to laugh at a bad joke or fill silence but Rachel doesn't give a s**t.
'She's happy for everyone to get uncomfortable. She can be quite rude, she tells people what she thinks, she doesn't like new people but she's really smart, she's determined and she's ambitious.'

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