Playing Joey Potter was a dream for Katie Holmes and the Dawson's Creek role made her wealthy. Since then, the actress has made careful decisions about her career. Holmes doesn't take on "sexy" parts and has mostly starred in movies, although she has taken on a few TV characters since Dawson Leery's best friend Joey.
Once the news came out about Justin Bieber having Ramsay Hunt Syndrome, the pop singer's fans were stunned and worried. There are some other actors and singers who have suffered from this health condition as well, including Katie Holmes. What happened when Katie Holmes got Ramsay Hunt Syndrome? Did it have any impact on the acting projects that she took on?
When Did Katie Holmes Have Ramsay Hunt Syndrome?
After getting divorced from Tom Cruise, Katie Holmes has been busy raising her child Suri and also acting a lot. While everyone knows about her famous marriage and fans love seeing her adorable daughter, people might not know about Holmes's time with Ramsay Hunt Syndrome.
Several stars have had Ramsay Hunt Syndrome, and according to Yahoo!, Katie Holmes is one of them. The publication says that the actress is known for having a "signature smirk" and people wonder if Ramsay Hunt Syndrome is the reason why. This hasn't been confirmed by the actress, though.
While several sources say that Holmes suffered from this condition, she doesn't appear to have spoken about it. It's unknown when this happened to her or for how long.
According to The Cleveland Clinic, Ramsay Hunt Syndrome is caused by a virus. When people are infected with a virus called varicella-zoster, the nerves around their ears are affected.
This makes someone's face look droopy and different. The website says that people who are affected have suffered from shingles or chickenpox before. This is because once someone has this virus, it stays in their body and then comes back in the form of Ramsay Hunt Syndrome. People with this virus could have rashes, "facial palsy," and sore ears.
Dr. Matthew Burke, a Sunnybrook Health Sciences Center neurologist, told CTV News that there are a few reasons why someone's body would react this way. He said, "The other major risk factors would be, in a similar vein, any medical conditions which would leave someone in an immunocompromised state. The reactivation can also just happen with kind of transient impacts on the immune system such as stress, physical injury.”
Dr. Burke continued, “About 75 per cent may make a full recovery but that recovery still might occur over weeks or months." According to The Cleveland Clinic, it could take a year for someone to be totally better. And in some cases, surgery is needed.
Did Katie Holmes' Medical Issues Change Her Acting Career?
Because people don't have Ramsay Hunt Syndrome for a long time, it doesn't seem like this health condition affected Katie Holmes's acting career. She seems to be very private about having struggled with this health issue. If it happened a long time ago, that might be why she doesn't bring it up in interviews. And it's possible that it wasn't too bad and went away quickly.
Katie Holmes likely could have starred in many other TV dramas after Dawson's Creek ended. But she has starred in so many different types of movies and TV shows that it seems that she is totally in control of her career.
Katie Holmes was definitely one of the IT Girls of the '90s and 2000s. After playing Libbets Casey in the eerie 1997 thriller The Ice Storm, she was in several teen movies, including Teaching Mrs. Tingle in 1999 and Disturbing Behavior in 1998. She didn't shy away from horror films, starring in Phone Booth and Abandon in 2002 and The Gift in 2000.
Over the last few decades, the actress hasn't had a favorite genre. She starred in the 2019 drama Coda, the 2011 comedy Jack and Jill, and the 2005 action movie Batman Begins.
In 2022, Holmes played the main character June in the movie Alone Together. She directed the film and also wrote the screenplay, which allowed her to express herself differently. She directed two other movies: All We Had in 2016 and Rare Objects, which was released in April 2023.
The actress told Shape in 2019, "I enjoy the collaboration of everyone on set, putting a story together, and telling it through my own lens. That makes me feel great. When I'm creating, I'm happy."
If Katie Holmes had Ramsay Hunt Syndrome when she wasn't filming a movie or TV series, she would have been able to recover and keep this to herself. Fans would be interested to hear the actress share her story of Ramsay Hunt Syndrome, but she hasn't talked about it.
Over the years, Holmes has said that she was feeling positive about her acting life. She told More Magazine, "I feel more creative. I feel ready … When I was a young actor, things happened quickly. My second job was 'Dawson's Creek,' and suddenly I was known. I was 18 years old; I had no life experience. I felt, 'I don’t have anything to bring. I don’t know what it’s like to be, say, really angry. I'm doing the best I can.' But with age I've gained confidence. I understand the kind of stories I want to tell. I have more experience in business. I feel more certain."
In 2014, Katie Holmes talked about acting with The Detroit News and said something similar. She explained, "I'm feeling very inspired. "I've always loved acting, and I feel really good about it right now."
While it must have been tough for Katie Holmes to experience Ramsay Hunt Syndrome, it doesn't seem like it changed her career at all. She has been super successful since her first movie role and still enjoys her work.
