Claire Foy Reveals the Health Struggle With Parasites That Went Undiagnosed for Years

Claire Foy is best known for her poised portrayal of Queen Elizabeth II in The Crown, but off-camera, the actress has dealt with a health ordeal far removed from royal life. During a recent guest appearance on the Table Manners podcast, Foy revealed the stomach-turning reason she completely cut caffeine from her life. She explained that a few years back, she discovered she was hosting uninvited guests in the form of internal parasites.

The actress shared with hosts Jessie and Lenni Ware that the diagnosis only came after she noticed some alarming physical changes. Despite eating constantly, she was losing weight at a rapid pace and felt perpetually hungry.

She eventually realized that her body wasn’t actually absorbing the nutrients from her meals. Foy believes she originally contracted the organisms while traveling in Morocco, but the truly shocking part was how long they stayed with her.

According to her doctors, she had been living with the parasites for at least five years. Even more unsettling was the news that they weren’t alone, as she was told they typically travel as a pair.

Foy described the entire realization as absolutely rank and disgusting, leading her to seek out a natural path to recovery. To avoid using heavy antibiotics, she committed to a strict restorative diet that required her to ditch caffeine entirely.

Before the health scare, Foy was a self-described heavy consumer of hot drinks, admitting she used to have at least 15 cups of tea a day along with two coffees. Giving up that level of caffeine was a massive challenge, and she described the withdrawal process as quite a mission. However, once she successfully cleared the “gross stuff” from her system and broke the habit, she decided to stick with her new caffeine-free lifestyle for the long haul.

As of early February, Claire Foy is receiving some of the best reviews of her career for her latest film, H Is for Hawk. The biographical drama, which was released in theaters on January 23, stars Foy as naturalist Helen Macdonald. The story follows Helen as she struggles with the sudden death of her father, played by Brendan Gleeson, and finds a path toward healing by training a wild goshawk named Mabel.

The film has already been a major contender during the awards season, with Foy winning the Golden Eye Award at the Zurich Film Festival and the movie receiving a BAFTA nomination for Outstanding British Film.

Beyond the success of H Is for Hawk, Foy is currently working on several major upcoming projects. She is set to star as Polly Thompson in the fantasy adventure The Magic Faraway Tree, an adaptation of the Enid Blyton classics that also features Andrew Garfield and Rebecca Ferguson.

Do you think you would be able to follow Claire Foy’s lead and give up caffeine forever if it meant improving your overall health, or is your daily cup of coffee too important to lose? Share your thoughts in the comments.