'Abbott Elementary' Star Shares Years-Long Battle With Chronic Illness

Abbott Elementary and Everybody Hates Chris actor Tyler James Williams is speaking out about a health battle that he's kept private for years. In a new interview with PEOPLE, the actor revealed that he struggled with a chronic illness that remained unknown to him for many years. Now, he's looking to raise awareness about his condition as part of AbbVie's Beyond a Gut Feeling campaign.

“I spent a portion of my life and career in wild amounts of discomfort and pain, only to find out that had I had a more in-depth conversation with a gastroenterologist, a lot of that could have either been treated more directly or avoided,” he told the publication. “So I don’t want anybody who’s in the position that I was in previously to have to go through the same things.” 

He first began experiencing severe symptoms at 19 years old, and believes he exhibited signs of the disease throughout childhood. But it wasn't until he was 22 years old that he finally put a name to his suffering: Crohn's Disease, a type of Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD).

“I've experienced some of the milder symptoms of the disease, but then also some of the very extremes as well,” he said. “But so much of that was due to the neglect of not treating the disease ahead of time.”

Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD), according to the Mayo Clinic, is an umbrella term for a group of disease that include Ulcerative Colitis and Crohn's Disease. They cause "swelling and inflammation of the tissues in the digestive tract," sometimes accompanied by sores (ulcers) in the lining of the intestine and rectum. 

Symptoms include "belly pain, diarrhea, rectal bleeding, extreme tiredness and weight loss." While it can be mild and is rarely fatal, some people can face serious illness and disability from the disease.

Williams explained to PEOPLE that he began going in and out of the hospital soon after his diagnosis.

"On one of my first hospitalizations, I went in and I was waiting for the doctor to give me some kind of big, really scary diagnosis,” Williams said. “He mentioned Crohn's disease and I didn't know what that was. So although it was explained to me, there was a certain level of seriousness I just didn't take to it. 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.”

Williams ultimately needed to have multiple surgeries related to the disease. Surgeries for Crohn's can involve removing a portion of the digestive tract that's become damaged and reconnecting healthy portions, according to the Crohn's and Colitis Foundation. Other surgeries can help drain abscesses, remove fistulas, and more.

“I needed to have three surgeries over the course of three months and was hospitalized on both the east and west coast for the better part of a year,” he said. He had begun to feel things would never change, something that took a toll on his mental health in addition to his body.

"There's a unique type of depression that comes with, ‘I'm the only one going through this.’ I think that was, from a mental health point of view, one of the lowest places I've ever been,” he said. “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.”

After making serious lifestyle changes to emphasize eating well, working out, and maintaining a healthy metabolism, Williams says he's in a much better place.

“I think I've become very in tune with my body and listening to what my body is saying,” he said. “So I’m on medication and doing well. 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.

“It took a while to get here though. There was a long time I didn't think I could get to this place where I felt what other people feel, what I describe as normal," he continued. "And it's a beautiful place to be now.”