Michaele Has MS

Article from People.

 



Photo: Getty Images



By Charlotte Triggs

A shocking, long-held secret about Real Housewives of D.C. star Michaele Salahi is being revealed in a new book about her: "I have multiple sclerosis," she admits.

The reality star, perhaps best known as one of the alleged White House party crashers, is the subject of Cirque du Salahi, written by Diane Dimond.

Salahi, 44, tells PEOPLE why she kept her diagnosis of the potentially crippling nervous system disorder quiet for 17 years. "No one wants to be seen as sickly," she explains. "And I didn't want to be pitied."