Rachel Reid Reveals How the Success of 'Heated Rivalry' Is Helping With Her Parkinson's Battle

Rachel Reid is opening up about her battle with Parkinson’s disease.

The “Heated Rivalry” author was diagnosed back in 2023, around the same time Jacob Tierney reached out to option her “Game Changers” book series for television.

If you’re unaware, Parkinson’s is “is a movement disorder of the nervous system that worsens over time,” according to Mayo Clinic.

In a new interview, Rachel revealed how the success of the Heated Rivalry TV series adaptation is aiding in her fight with the disease.

Keep reading to find out more…

“It’s making it hard to write because I can barely control a mouse. I can’t type for very long. It’s hard for me to sit in a chair for very long,” Rachel told Variety‘s Marc Malkin about the current state of her health. “I need to figure out new ways to write. I don’t know if that will be voice to text. I don’t know if I can write that way. It doesn’t feel natural, but I need to figure out something because it is taking me a very long time to write now.”

She then revealed that due to the show’s success, she’s been able to connect with a top Parkinson’s expert!

“But an amazing thing that’s come out of this though is Jacob [Tierney] was on CNN a few weeks ago. For whatever reason, the interviewer asked him about my Parkinson’s diagnosis. I thought it was kind of odd, but then the next day, one of the top Parkinson’s experts in the world reached out to me and asked if he could help me,” Rachel shared. “I’ve never gotten to talk to a Parkinson’s expert. I’ve been on a five-year waiting list here because I live in a very small place. Now he’s found me a Parkinson’s expert, a neurologist, and I have an appointment in a couple weeks. That could change things for me because I’m not really getting the treatment that I should be getting. He also told me how to change my medication so I can sleep because I never slept. That change made me sleep through the night, which really helps with writing.”

In that same interview, Rachel also shared what she wants to see in season two of the hit Crave series!

If you missed it, here are the biggest differences between the “Heated Rivalry book” and the TV show finale…

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