Ryan McCartan played Diggie Smalls on the Disney series Liv And Maddie, a basketball whiz who was in a relationship with Maddie Rooney. After McCartan dated his co-star Dove Cameron, Cameron dated and broke up with Thomas Doherty, another Disney actor. McCartan is now in a relationship with Samantha Fekete and he has posted many Instagram photos of the couple smiling big and loving life together.
The Liv And Maddie actors remained tight even though they have moved on from the show. Ryan McCartan has been acting ever since. But fans might not realize that he has been struggling with a health issue since he was a child. What has Ryan McCartan been dealing with? And did his illness change his ability to act?
What Health Condition Does Liv And Maddie Star Ryan McCartan Have?
Fans of the Disney Channel always want to know if the actors have stayed successful after their popular shows were canceled. Ryan McCartan has definitely done well. But life hasn't been easy, and he has had many hard times.
Ryan McCartan has diabetes. While he doesn't talk often about his health issue, he did share in November 2016 that he had gone to the hospital on October 31st.
According to The Daily Mail, he posted on Instagram and wrote, "This is how I spent my Halloween after a series of food poisoning, dehydration and diabetes-related complications."
The Liv And Maddie star continued, "Life is precious but fragile, and boy did I get that reminder! Grateful for an amazing sister, family, and friends who quite literally saved my life yesterday. Doing better today- thanks for the well wishes."
Ryan McCartan talked about his musical career in a 2020 interview with The Knockturnal. He won the role of Prince Hans in Frozen: The Musical and shared with the website that it was actually learning that he had diabetes that influenced his decision to sing. This probably wasn't the way that he expected to find his passion in life. But things did work out.
The actor said, "I wanted to play sports but I got diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes. A lot of diabetics can make it work, but for some reason, my body was just not having it. And so my parents were like, ‘Ok, we hear you, but you have to do something with your time.’ And I was like, ‘playing video games in my room doesn’t count!?’"
He continued to The Knockturnal, "I looked over at what my sister was doing– she was into theater and dancing and singing– and I thought that looked cool. And there was one day when she was singing ‘Somewhere Over the Rainbow’ in the car and I started singing too, and my parents were like, ‘Oh he can sing too, oh my god we got two of ‘em!’"
According to The Mayo Clinic, Type 1 diabetes is referred to as "insulin-dependent diabetes" and "juvenile diabetes." Because the body's pancreas doesn't create insulin the way that it should, people with this illness have to take insulin.
When people learn that they have Type 1 diabetes, they have to check their blood sugar on a regular basis and make sure that they're watching the protein, sugar and carbs that they are eating. There is sadly no way to stop Type 1 diabetes, but if people are careful about their blood sugar, they will be okay.
Did Diabetes Affect Liv And Maddie Star Ryan McCartan's Career?
The Liv And Maddie cast's careers after the show have included some interesting movies and TV shows. While Ryan McCartan has had diabetes for a long time, it hasn't stopped him from pursuing what he loves. It's likely that he has been able to manage diabetes with his diet and with insulin.
According to Broadway.com, he learned that he had Type 1 Diabetes when he was six years old. By the time he was cast on Liv And Maddie, he would have been living with this condition for a while. And it seems that he knew how to deal with it. Although diabetes is always a challenge, it seems like McCartan has been doing well.
In 2014, the actor played William "Cinco" Phipps V in several episodes of Royal Pains, Oliver in a few episodes of Freakish, and Kyle Reed in The Winchesters. He has a love of music, and played Brad Majors in the TV adaptation of the famous musical, The Rocky Horror Picture Show: Let's Do the Time Warp Again.
The Rocky Horror Picture Show cast included Victoria Justice, Laverne Cox, and Adam Lambert. It seemed like a dream come true for McCartan, who released the album "Heart Attack" in 2015.
The actor told The Wrap in 2016 that he was really happy to be part of the movie. He said, “What I’m more excited for is the Brads and Janets of the world who probably were never brave enough to go to the movie theater and see it at midnight, who maybe don’t even know what ‘Rocky Horror Picture Show’ is, especially my younger fans. I’m really excited for them to be thrust into this wonderfully weird madness that is the ‘Rocky Horror Picture Show.'”
After Liv And Maddie, McCartan also began making music with his co-star Dove Cameron. The two formed a group called The Girl and the Dreamcatcher. They put out an EP called "Negatives" in July 2016. Liv And Maddie fans know that McCartan and Cameron were also in a serious relationship. They even got engaged. But, according to People, after three years together, they split up.
While it's not easy to deal with diabetes every day, Ryan McCartan has been happily acting for decades now. Besides the time when he was in the hospital, it seems like a condition that can be managed. After starring in The Winchesters, the actor has a role in the upcoming comedy The F*** Happened, according to his IMDb page.
