When Hallmark fan-favorite Benjamin Ayres looks back at scenes from any of the three Hallmark Christmas movies he filmed in 2024, he vividly remembers how he was feeling on each set, including being in “excruciating pain” while shooting scenes for his role in Erin Krakow and Daniel Lissing’s “Santa Tell Me.”
“I almost didn’t know if I could do it,” Ayres told EntertainmentNOW of the shoot, recalling how much pain he was in at the time due to osteoarthritis in his hip that had grown increasingly debilitating over several years.
At 47, feeling far too young and healthy to be so impacted by the condition, Ayres tried to keep it under wraps, only telling the directors on his films and close friends. He worried, he said, that people would notice his slight limp in movies like February’s “Love and Jane” and the 2023 hit “Miracle in Bethlehem, PA.”
“It’s a vulnerability,” he told EntertainmentNOW. “I didn’t want anybody to know and be like, ‘Oh, we can’t cast Ben. Something’s wrong with him.'”
But the pain grew so unbearable that weeks after filming “Santa Tell Me,” Ayres underwent surgery for a full hip replacement in mid-June. Though he did share on social media that he’d had surgery and was deeply touched by the support from fans, he chose at the time not to disclose what type of surgery he’d had nor the complications he endured.
“People I did tell couldn’t believe it,” Ayres told EntertainmentNOW of his diagnosis. “So many people have said, ‘But you’re too young to get that.’ I had to get over that feeling of ‘Wait, why me’ and understand it myself.”
Benjamin Ayres Had Been Dealing With Significant Pain Since the Pandemic
Osteoarthritis (OA) was once thought of as the result of “wear and tear” on the body, according to the Arthritis Foundation. But research has shown it’s a degenerative disease that impacts the entire joint, and can “degrade cartilage, change bone shape and cause inflammation, resulting in pain, stiffness and loss of mobility.”
Though most patients are over the age of 50, the Arthritis Foundation says OA affects much younger people, too, “especially those who have had a prior joint injury.” Ayres said his doctors told him that includes anything from a football injury to “falling off your bike when you were a kid.”
For Ayres, his hip pain became noticeable during the pandemic.
“When all the gyms closed, my workout routine had changed,” he told EntertainmentNOW, “and I started to notice pain in the front of my hip. I thought it was my hip flexor. I started working with a physical therapist, and it wasn’t getting better.”
After his physical therapist recommended he get X-rays to determine if he had hip impingement or an acetabular tear, Ayres was shocked when his doctor called to tell him he had osteoarthritis.
“I was like, ‘What? How do I get rid of that?'” Ayres told EntertainmentNOW. “I had no idea. I’ve been lucky in my life. Health wise, I’ve never had to deal with anything. So it was, for me, the first major thing.”
Ayres began working out even more in hopes of strengthening his hip, trying to avoid surgery. Though his pain improved temporarily, it eventually got much worse, he said.
“By then it was bone on bone, and then the flexibility was lost, and then I was limping constantly,” Ayres said. “I couldn’t tie my shoes, I couldn’t bend down. It got really bad. I tried injections and all this stuff, but finally came to the conclusion that I just had to have it removed.”
Despite Fears About Being Cast Aside, Benjamin Ayres Landed 2 More Hallmark Movies After Surgeries
Unfortunately, Ayres experienced complications shortly after his surgery when his repaired hip dislocated, he told EntertainmentNOW. He recalled how he tried to “be strong” and not show how bad the “deep, intense, excruciating pain” really was, but he knew something was seriously wrong as soon as he looked at the X-ray technicians’ reactions and was wheeled into the hospital’s trauma ward.
After a second major surgery, Ayres said, he was being driven home to recover when he learned from his reps that Hallmark had offered him his second Christmas movie of the year, “Happy Holidays From Cherry Lane.”
“I am in so much pain and confusion,” he laughed, “and I get a call (saying) ‘Hey, you just got an offer to do ‘Cherry Lane’ in Vancouver.’ And I’m like, ‘Guys, I can’t even…I don’t even know who I am right now. Like, I don’t know if I could do that.'”
But with the week-long shoot a full month away, Ayres decided to go for it, hoping he’d be healed enough to make the cross-country flight and film with co-star Erica Durance.
“I arrived with a cane, but I was able to walk around and do my thing,” he told EntertainmentNOW. “But I was still really in recovery and still on, like, (pain) medication and stuff like that.”
But by fall, when Ayres was filming his third Christmas movie of the year — “The Santa Class,” which he co-starred in with Kimberley Sustad — his hip felt so good he said he “almost forgot” he’d had surgery.
“It’s unbelievable the way (healing) works,” he said. “But these three movies, like, (chronicle) the ‘before,’ the ‘right after,’ and then the ‘well-after’ my surgeries. When I think about this year, I’ll always remember the difference with each one.”
Feeling strong heading into 2025, Ayres told EntertainmentNOW that he now hopes talking about his experience may help others understand OA and potentially recognize the signs themselves so they can seek out help and open up about their pain sooner than he did.
“I feel like it really is a new lease on life,” he said. “It’s unbelievable.”
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EXCLUSIVE: Benjamin Ayres Bravely Discloses Difficult Healing Journey He Faced in 2024