For the first time since she was hospitalized in March, Hailey Bieber is opening up about the blood clot in her brain that caused her to have one of "the scariest moment of [her] life."
The model addressed the recent health scare in a new video uploaded to her YouTube channel where she recounted the stroke-like symptoms. Bieber recalled experiencing numbness in her fingers and a shooting pain that migrated down her arm one morning while having breakfast with husband Justin Bieber, “I couldn’t speak. The right side of my face started drooping, I couldn’t get a sentence out.”
Unable to communicate, Bieber remembers the terror she felt in that moment, “I had so many things running through my head, number one being, ‘I’m having a stroke. I’m really scared, I don’t know why this is happening, am I going to have permanent issues from this?’”
Fortunately for her, Bieber was able to get rushed to the hospital where she underwent a series of tests that confirmed she wasn't having a full-on stroke, but suffering from a small blood clot in her brain known as a Transient Ischemic Attack which is commonly referred to as a mini-stroke. “It definitely feels like having a stroke, except my body was able to resolve it pretty quickly and then I didn’t have any more issues for the whole rest of the day and the whole rest of the time that I was in the hospital.”
Noting that her speech had returned by the time she arrived at the emergency room, doctors were able to diagnose Bieber with a patent foramen ovale (PFO) which is a small opening in the heart that normally closes after birth. “They found that I had a grade-five PFO, which is the highest grade that you can have. Mine was fairly large,” she explains. “My blood clot escaped through the flap, or the hole, in my heart and traveled to my brain, and that was why I had my TIA.” Apparently, Bieber had a “perfect storm” of factors including birth-control pills, a bout with COVID and a recent flight that contributed to the blood clot forming.
Bieber was able to undergo a procedure to have the hole closed that apparently "went smoothly" and has since been recovering at home, taking a mix of aspirin and blood thinners. "The biggest thing I feel, honestly, is I just feel really relieved that we were able to figure everything out, that we were able to get it closed, that I will be able to just move on from this really scary situation and just live my life.”
Thankfully, symptoms haven't returned for Bieber in the time since. Bieber hoped that by sharing her story, she could help dispel any rumors or misinformation being spread about her recent hospital stay as well as help spread awareness and offer support for others who might be going through similar situations. “If there’s anybody that watches this that has gone through the same thing or something similar, I definitely really empathize with you, and I understand how life-altering and scary it is,” she says in the video, sharing links to various resources on stroke signs, healthcare organizations and Planned Parenthood in the description.
Photo via Getty/ Arturo Holmes/ FilmMagic
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