Emma Caulfield Ford shares MS diagnosis ahead of her return to the MCU

Buffy The Vampire Slayer and WandaVision star Emma Caulfield Ford has publicly shared that she’s been silently living with MS since 2010, keeping her diagnosis a secret from close friends, family members, and coworkers. Ahead of her return as Dottie in Marvel’s Agatha: Coven of Chaos, she’s opening up about the preceding solitary twelve years, and how she plans to move forward in her career.

“Once upon a time, I had zero health problems….” Caulfield Ford tells Vanity Fair. “Back in 2010, I was working on 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.”

After visits to the acupuncturist, then a neurologist for an MRI, her diagnosis was confirmed.

“I go to work and I’m shooting a scene,” Caulfield Ford explains. “I remember I had this amazing Hervé Léger dress and it was just fantastic. And I looked…extra. I was like, ‘I’m feeling myself right now.’”

“I had a missed call from the doctor’s office, so I called back. I’m just like, ‘What’s up?’ I had five minutes down or whatever,” Caulfield Ford continues. “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.”

Stressors such as heat only exasperate symptoms like fatigue. When Caulfield Ford first signed onto WandaVision, the production originally set out to shoot outdoor scenes in the spring. Due to the pandemic, everything was pushed back to late summer, making Caulfield Ford’s job only more difficult.

“Everything was fine. But the heat was unbearable. And I was feeling every inch of that,” Caulfield Ford says. “I got really weak. I just went into survival mode and I remember having to be outside…. It was just unfortunate timing really. But I was very, very uncomfortable and no one knew. I said nothing. And I paid the price for that.”

She told herself things like: “Just shut up. Just do your job. This is the first time you’re working with Marvel. This is a big fucking deal. Do not bring attention to yourself. I have to nail the job. I have to be great. Be memorable. Don’t let down my friend [showrunner] Jac Schaeffer.”

Caulfield Ford shares her diagnosis not only so she can take more precautions as she returns to set, but also for her six-year-old daughter.

“I’m so tired of not being honest,” Caulfield Ford says. “And beyond that, my daughter has changed my perspective, as I think anybody who is a parent can attest. I know that she has a 30% greater chance of coming down with this, just luck of the draw for her. She’s six. She’s just started first grade…. It got me thinking about her and how full of joy and active she is, and she’s just such a remarkable little creature.”