Viola Davis recently shared in an interview with People that she was diagnosed with shingles, which caused her severe pain rated at nine out of ten. The actress first noticed symptoms in early 2012 after a period of high stress due to work commitments and adopting her daughter. Shingles, caused by the varicella-zoster virus responsible for chickenpox, can lead to painful rashes and complications like postherpetic neuralgia, particularly affecting adults over age 50. While there is no cure, medical treatments exist to alleviate symptoms and prevent further issues.
Written locally by qwen2.5:14b on 2026-10-09,
using this article's own text rather than the other coverage of the
same event (that is the story summary below).
With sudden, excruciating pain spreading across her body, Viola Davis thought she’d been bitten by a poisonous critter.
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she → spread → critter
“I would put it a nine out of 10,” she said of the pain in an interview with People.
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she → put → People
“I was surprised how much pain it was.
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it → surprise → ?
But what the EGOT-winner actually had was a very common disease that affects one in three Americans at some point in their lives.
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that → affect → lives
The good news is that the virus isn’t life threatening — but there isn’t a cure.
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virus → threaten → ?
And before it works its way out of your system, the agony it causes is unfortunately very common.
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it → work → system
Davis began experiencing her symptoms in early 2012, right after the actress adopted her daughter and received an Oscar nomination for “The Help.”
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actress → begin → Help
“I was working, working, working, running myself into the ground,” she said.
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she → work → ground
“Then all of a sudden, I woke up with flu-like symptoms and an extraordinarily painful rash.”
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I → wake → symptoms
“It started on my stomach and it wrapped around to my back.
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it → start → back
It went away and then it came back with three blisters on my upper back.”
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it → go → back
She says that when her doctors diagnosed her with shingles, it was “the surprise of my life” — “I knew absolutely nothing about shingles.”
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I → say → shingles
The disease is caused by the varicella-zoster virus, the same one that causes chickenpox.
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that → cause → chickenpox
If you’ve had chickenpox, the virus stays in the body for life and may reactivate down the road as shingles.
uncertain
virus → have → shingles
Shingles causes a painful rash that typically looks like a single stripe of blisters that wraps around one side of your body.
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that → cause → body
Doctors can usually tell at a glance with a visual check, but samples of the blisters can also be sent in to confirm the virus is present.
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virus → tell → blisters
The rash can be itchy, sensitive to touch and cause a burning and tingling pain with fluid-filled blisters that burst and crust over.
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that → cause → blisters
Some people, like Davis, also experience symptoms like fever, headache, fatigue and sensitivity.
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people → experience → fever
Severe complications can result from shingles, including postherpetic neuralgia (PHN).
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complications → result → neuralgia
This chronic nerve pain — which can feel burning, stabbing or aching — occurs where the shingles rash appeared and lingers for months or years after the rash heals.
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rash → feel → months
Adults over age 50 are at increased risk of this.
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Adults → increase → this
PHN can also cause damage vision if the rash appears near the eye (ophthalmic shingles), or nerve damage if the rash affects the nerve near the ear (Ramsey Hunt Syndrome).
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rash → cause → ear
There’s no cure for shingles, but doctors can prescribe medications that may speed up healing and lower risk of complications.
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that → ’ → complications
Lessons learned
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Lessons → learn → ?
“I felt that I sort of was immune to any disease at that point because I worked out, I ate right.
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I → feel → point
I felt that I was healthy because I did all the right things.
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I → feel → things
And then all of a sudden, I have shingles,” Davis said.
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Davis → have → shingles
Eating healthy and working out won’t prevent shingles, although doing so is definitely good for your health overall.
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doing → eat → health
Still, we have a powerful tool to prevent shingles from developing.
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we → have → shingles
Adults 50 and older and adults with weakened immune systems should get the two-dose Shingrix vaccine, which is over 90% effective in preventing shingles and lingering pain (PHN).
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which → get → shingles
Getting shingles “woke me up to listening to my body, which I didn’t before that time,” Davis said.
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Davis → get → time
“I felt like I was a soldier and the more that I could muster through, the stronger I was.
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I → feel → that
I didn’t know that that’s not what strength is about.
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strength → know → what
Strength is about sort of loving on your body and experiencing good health as you age.
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you → love → health
”
Now she’s encouraging others to value their health and see a doctor when something is awry.
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something → encourage → doctor
“Life is not supposed to be lived with anything that causes you debilitating pain,” she said.
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she → suppose → pain
“I feel like I’m important enough and my body is important enough to listen to it and to honor it …
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body → feel → it
I found that that is the key to aging beautifully.”
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that → find → ?
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