Ahmed Attributes Life-Threatening Illness to Relentless Critical Inner Voice and Self-Attack

What was said

"An autoimmune condition is when the body attacks itself. It was my belief that I was at war with myself, that my critical inner voice was so out of control. I was always attacking myself, beating myself over the stick so much that in a way my body had turned on itself."

Reflecting on his hospitalization during Star Wars filming, Riz Ahmed directly connected his autoimmune condition to psychological warfare from an internalized critical voice. He described continuing to rehearse scenes from The Night Of two years after winning an Emmy for the role, illustrating the severity of his self-criticism. Ahmed stated he believes this internal attack manifested physically, nearly killing him.