Willa Ford Says She Wasn't Going to 'Speak Out' About Experiencing Seizures. Why She Changed Her Mind (Exclusive)
Willa Ford Says She Wasn't Going to 'Speak Out' About Experiencing Seizures. Why She Changed Her Mind (Exclusive)
Ilana KaplanWed, March 11, 2026 at 10:25 PM UTC
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Willa FordCredit: Elias Tahan -
Willa Ford reveals why she didn't plan to "speak out" about experiencing seizures
"The seizures are what made me decide I wasn't done living," Ford tells PEOPLE
The pop star began experiencing psychogenic non-epileptic seizures (PNES) in December 2023
Willa Ford wasn't sure she was going to open up about experiencing seizures.
The pop star, who began experiencing psychogenic non-epileptic seizures (PNES) in December 2023, which are defined by the National Institutes of Health as seizures that may have a psychological cause, found herself hesitant to "speak out" about them.
"I wasn't going to tell people because I think it scares [them]," Ford, 45, tells PEOPLE. "Like, 'Oh, she's going to have one on stage.' She initially felt like her experience was "rare," but she realized it might not be so singular to her.
Ford says that when she has seizures her "brain disconnects, so it actually doesn't injure my brain."
Willa FordCredit: Charles Sykes/Bravo via Getty
"It's the better of the seizures to have, if I'm being honest," she notes. "My body just flails or I get frozen, but I'm coherent. I can talk to you [and] do math, unless my mouth is doing weird things."
Ford, who couldn't work or drive during this time, claims that's not the case for everyone with PNES because it can look different depending on the individual.
But she notes that these types of seizures are "caused by a traumatic event," and for her, it was a past trauma connected to music. “The seizures are what made me decide I wasn't done living,” says the "I Wanna Be Bad" hitmaker.
While Ford does still experience seizures, they're less frequent than they once were. "I probably have one a month," she says, noting it's with the help of therapy, an anti-anxiety medication and a "rescue med" in some cases.
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When Ford learned her seizures were caused by a past trauma connected to music, she focused on songwriting. “That's all I could do,” she says.
The "Burn Burn" singer, however, remains tight-lipped about specifics when it comes to the trauma she endured.
“What I will say is it had nothing to do with my label [Atlantic Records], my labelmates or a producer or anything. It wasn't anybody I worked with. It is an out of this world story that doesn't even sound real,” she recently told PEOPLE.
While Ford admires other women who have come forward, she doesn't want her kids reading about her experience.
"It doesn't help me at all to get back this person," she said. "It only helps me to be healed and move forward."According to Ford, it "ends" with her.
"It happened. I've dealt [with it], I've forgiven, I've moved on. It's in the record [amanda]. But I do think that we're starting to shine some light on people we all thought were heroes and maybe they're not," she said.
Ford's new album amanda is out now.
on People
Source: “AOL Entertainment”
