Right before Candace Owens entered the public sphere, a toxic mold infection from an HVAC leak triggered systemic candidiasis, head-to-toe eczema, hair loss, and devastating cognitive fog. She spent a year mostly bedridden, unable to think or write. Recovery required starving the infection through an extreme no-sugar diet. The experience, she says, humbled her in ways that inoculated her against the vanity of politics.