Hailey Bieber reveals how mini-stroke and heart surgery permanently altered her life
Topics: Hailey Bieber, Celebrity, US News, Health
Rhianna Benson
Featured Image Credit: Stefanie Keenan/Getty Images for Fashion Trust U.S.
Topics: Hailey Bieber, Celebrity, US News, Health
In a heartbreaking new interview, Hailey Bieber has opened up on the devastating impact that a near-cataclysmic mini stroke had on her life.
Speaking on Jake Shane's Therapuss podcast this week, the Rhode beauty boss reflected on the brutal blow to her health, as well as the subsequent heart surgery she was forced to undergo.
"A couple of years ago, I had a crazy medical situation. I had a mini stroke," 29-year-old Hailey explained. "Then I found that I had this heart defect that I was born with, so I had to get surgery for it, which sounds really crazy, but they went through my groin and I was in and out of the hospital the same day."
The brunette beauty’s hospitalising mini stroke - referred to technically as a transient ischemic attack (TIA) - occurred back in 2022.
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It describes a temporary disruption of blood flow to the brain that causes stroke-like symptoms. In some cases, this includes face drooping, weakened arms and difficulty speaking.
According to the NHS, TIA is usually a precursor to a major stroke that could prove life-threatening. It doesn’t last as long as a full-fledged stroke, but can drag on from a few minutes to several hours. In most cases, the effects fully resolve within 24 hours.
In light of the incident, Hailey - who shares a one-year-old son, Jack Blues, with Canadian hit-maker Justin Bieber - was forced to undergo a patent foramen ovale (PFO), a procedure that closed a hole in her heart.
Despite the slow and careful recovery Hailey later underwent, she claims the incident left her 'so fascinated with the body and medicine and doctors'.
She added during this week’s podcast appearance: "That situation made me a little bit extra hyper-aware of my body and a little bit more nervous about things and staying on top of them."
She went on to add that, since then, she has remained 'focused and fascinated on health'.
This isn’t the first time that Hailey has lifted the lid on the procedure, however, and during a prior appearance on the Run-Through with Vogue podcast, she described the surgery on her heart as the ‘scariest thing I’ve ever gone though’.
She also claimed the surgery left her with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
"I struggled with a lot of anxiety after," the mother-of-one admitted. "I struggled with a little bit of PTSD, just like the fear of maybe it was gonna happen again. It was just a feeling that I was, like, I never want to experience that ever again."
Hailey added: "I mean, it was so terrifying, so jarring, so discombobulating in every single way that you could imagine."
Similarly to what she told Shane this week, she went on to comfort her fans, telling listeners at the time: "It gets easier and easier with time to be able to talk about it.
"I'm just really grateful that I was able to have had amazing doctors and nurses, and people that helped me get to the bottom of what actually happened. I look back at it and it could've been so much worse."