Editing Kathleen Turner (section)

===Slowed by rheumatoid arthritis===
Turner remained an A-list film star leading lady in the early 1990s, starring in [[V.I. Warshawski (film)|''V.I. Warshawski'']] and ''[[Undercover Blues]]'', until [[rheumatoid arthritis]] seriously restricted her activities. She also blamed her age, stating, "when I was 40, the roles started slowing down, I started getting offers to play mothers and grandmothers."

In 1992, during the filming of'' [[Serial Mom]]'', she began experiencing "inexplicable pains and fevers."{{sfn | Turner| Feldt | 2008 | p= 160}}  The rheumatoid arthritis diagnosis was made about a year later. By the time she was diagnosed, she "could hardly turn her head or walk, and was told she would end up in a wheelchair".<ref name="monster" /> Of this period, she has said: "My body could respond only with excruciating pain whenever I tried to move at all. The joints in my hands were so swollen, I couldn't hold a pen. Some days I couldn't hold a glass to get a drink of water. I couldn't pick up my child... my feet would blow up so badly that I couldn't get them into any kind of shoes, let alone walk on them."{{sfn | Turner| Feldt | 2008 | p= 164}}

Turner's appearance changed after the rheumatoid arthritis diagnosis. "The press were merciless," she states in her memoir. "They snipped that I had become fat and unrecognizable because I was an angry, washed-up diva, an out-of-control has-been, when in truth the changes in my physical appearance were caused by drugs and chemotherapy and were not within my control. Still, I did not reveal what was happening to me."{{sfn | Turner| Feldt | 2008 | p= 176}}

As her rheumatoid arthritis progressed, alcohol consumption became a problem. "I drank consciously at first to kill the pain....Later, after I got the new medicines and the pain began to subside, I kept drinking too much... It didn't damage my work, but it damaged me personally."{{sfn | Turner| Feldt | 2008 | p= 180}}

Turner has admitted that the drinking made her difficult to be around.<ref>{{cite web |date=February 14, 2008 |title=The View (talk show, interview with Kathleen Turner) |url=http://abc.go.com/daytime/theview/index |access-date=February 14, 2008 |publisher=ABC Television |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080213122908/http://abc.go.com/daytime/theview/index |archive-date=February 13, 2008 }}</ref> In 2005, an article in ''The New York Times'' stated: "Rumors began circulating that she was drinking too much." In her memoir, she said: "I went on letting others believe anything they wanted to about my behavior and physical changes. Many people bought the assumption that I'd turned into a heavy drinker. I couldn't publicly refute them because I believed it was worse to have people know that I had this terrible illness. They'd hire me if they thought I was a drunk, because they could understand drinking, but they wouldn't hire me if I had a mysterious, scary illness they didn't understand.  We – Jay, my agent, myself – felt it was imperative to keep my rheumatoid arthritis quiet."{{ sfn | Turner| Feldt|2008| p= 180|}}

Her career as a leading lady went into a steep decline and she was seen in fewer and fewer very successful films. She turned down lead roles in ''[[Ghost (1990 film)|Ghost]]'' and ''[[The Bridges of Madison County (film)|The Bridges of Madison County]]'', both of which became big hits. She appeared in the low-budget ''[[House of Cards (1993 film)|House of Cards]]'' as well as the comedy-drama ''[[Moonlight and Valentino|Moonlight & Valentino]]'', and had supporting roles in ''[[A Simple Wish]]'', ''[[The Real Blonde]]'', and [[Sofia Coppola]]'s ''[[The Virgin Suicides (film)|The Virgin Suicides]]''. She also provided the voice of Malibu Stacy's creator, Stacy Lovell, in the episode "[[Lisa vs. Malibu Stacy]]" on ''[[The Simpsons]]''.

Turner was originally cast as [[List of The Lion King characters#Zira|Zira]] in [[Walt Disney Animation Studios|Disney's]] ''[[The Lion King II: Simba's Pride]]''. Turner talked about the role and even sang a portion of her character's song (stating the film would be her singing debut) during an interview on ''[[The Rosie O'Donnell Show]]'' on March 10, 1998.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A-FkONusZY0 |title=Kathleen Turner Interview 2 - ROD Show, Season 2 Episode 116, 1998|website=YouTube|date=December 1, 2022|access-date=December 9, 2023}}</ref>  She was replaced by [[Suzanne Pleshette]] in the final film.