MAFS star Elizabeth's mystery disappearance explained

Alicia Vrajlal
·Contributor
Photo: Channel Nine
Photo: Channel Nine

If we cast our minds back to the first MAFS cheating scandal, we’ll remember that Ines and Sam’s rendezvous on the Gold Coast began while Elizabeth was mysteriously absent.

While at the time, the show’s expert John Aiken had informed cast members that Liz was away due to medical reasons, she’s now explained exactly what happened.

“I developed a respiratory infection and a secondary bacterial infection,” the 28-year-old told 9Honey.

Elizabeth suffers from two chronic health conditions, Porphyria, a blood disorder that can affect the skin and nervous system, and a mild form of Lupus.

The stressful environment while filming the show took a further toll on her health and led to the infections, she explains.

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Both conditions mean Elizabeth needs to be wary of sunlight, and explains why she chooses to wear hair extensions that protect her scalp from the sun.

View this post on Instagram

Today I’m in a bit of pain and have a bit of what I label as ‘brain fog’. Many people out there would know what I’m talking about. Especially if you are living with a chronic illness. For me, I live with two. They are sometimes invisible and by looking at me you would never know that I’m actually trying to stop myself from falling over in pain majority of the time. The common denominator in my conditions is photosensitivity. It is a symptom of both. Now, before people jump to conclusion and say ‘well, don’t you love the beach?’ My answer if ‘yes’ but best believe I suffer after. When you live with chronic illness you weigh things up. So I love nature, I love to hear the ocean, and feel the sand but I will most likely be bedridden after and suffer some pretty intense skin issues. This is my life and I know for many others out there it is theres as well. Please look for the link in my bio if you would like to understand what I’m talking about. The message I would like to convey is that you can still be confident and be proud of who you are and kick ass when you live with chronic illness, yes it is harder for people like us, but in my eyes that makes you even more badass!!!! #chronicillness #awareness #letstalkaboutit

A post shared by Elizabeth (@lizalizzieelizabeth) on Mar 17, 2019 at 9:01pm PDT

Taking to Instagram on Monday, the reality star highlighted some of the daily struggles she endures due to her health.

“Today I’m in a bit of pain and have a bit of what I label as ‘brain fog’. Many people out there would know what I’m talking about. Especially if you are living with a chronic illness,” she wrote.

“For me, I live with two. They are sometimes invisible and by looking at me you would never know that I’m actually trying to stop myself from falling over in pain majority of the time.

View this post on Instagram

Hey guys! I love that everyone is loving my new look…. it’s such a fun process for me to try out different looks and be artistic. Now, I just wanted to let people know that my hair extensions are still there. All that has changed has been my colour and length. I’ve had the top darkened to give a more balayage feel. The amount of tape hair extensions I had when originally changing the colour is still there. Why I feel that I had to address this is because I do indeed have a medical condition where I loose my hair due to overexposure of light, and I have a rash predominantly on the back of my nape travelling to my ears, it covers most of my scalp, but the bulk of the rash is at the back of my head. It is not pleasant and it never leaves and I have to treat it with a steroid every second day. The extensions act a way similar to a hat. Due to the bulk of hair it offers my scalp more of a form of protection. #youlikemyhairgeethanksjustboughtit

A post shared by Elizabeth (@lizalizzieelizabeth) on Mar 15, 2019 at 11:12pm PDT

“The common denominator in my conditions is photosensitivity. It is a symptom of both,” she continued, explaining she needs to be careful about when she goes out in the sun.

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“When you live with chronic illness you weigh things up. So I love nature, I love to hear the ocean, and feel the sand but I will most likely be bedridden after and suffer some pretty intense skin issues,” she wrote.

“This is my life and I know for many others out there it is theres as well.”

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