Actor Tyler James Williams, known for his roles in “Abbott Elementary” and “Everybody Hates Chris,” is speaking out about the serious struggles he’s faced after Crohn’s disease led to needing three surgeries in three months and how that experience nearly broke him physically and mentally. Crohn’s disease is a form of IBD that causes inflammation to the digestive tract, and studies show that more than half a million people in the United States are living with it.

Williams, now 32, was officially diagnosed with Crohn’s disease in August 2015, before he turned 23. However, he said the signs stretched back to when he was just 19. During that time, he ignored the symptoms: severe pain, discomfort, illness; all because he didn’t recognize the severity of what he was dealing with. He told People, “So much of that was due to the neglect of not treating the disease ahead of time.” He said, “I thought I could just work through it until ultimately I ended up in such an acute position of pain because the disease was kind of running wild.”

By 2016, his flare-ups escalated. Williams was hospitalized every two weeks in the fall, and by January, he needed surgery number one. Over the span of three months, he underwent three surgical procedures for his Crohn’s and said he spent most of that year in hospitals on both the east and west coasts. He still didn’t realize just how serious the disease was until the second surgery. He said, “I kind of took it as like, ‘Oh, this is just my normal, I just have to deal with these symptoms. I'm gonna have to periodically go in and out of the hospital.’ And that doesn't have to be the case.”  

Reflecting on what that experience did to him, he said that it was one of the “lowest places” he’d ever been. He shared, “...A combination of feeling very alone in something and then also the mental toll that comes with dealing with a physical disease. I was in a really dark place for a while feeling like there was no way to get over this hump or to ever feel better.” During those dark periods of his life, Williams said sometimes he couldn’t eat nor drink for two weeks, and he needed an ostomy bag for six weeks. He worried that his failing health would derail his career.

Luckily, it hasn’t. Williams is thriving and living in remission. He said, “I think I’ve become very in tune with my body … I’ve been in what we refer to as remission for at least the last year and a half, if not two years. My gastroenterologists are really happy with where I'm at.” He credits his good health to strong communication with his doctors, working out regularly, a healthy diet, and medication. Williams is happy to be in a healthy place with his body. 

“There are people who are suffering much like I was because they just don't know how to talk about it,” the actor tells People. “I can understand that people have a hesitancy to talk about their digestive systems. But I hope that by me talking about this more frequently, it breaks that wall down a little bit.” Williams’ goal is to bring awareness to IBD and to remind the people living with it, that they’re not alone. He said, “I hope that somebody can hear the word Crohn’s disease … go, ‘Oh, that thing that Tyler James Williams has.’ Because I think if people can put a face to their own symptoms, they can understand, one, you're not alone, and two, it can get better.”