Actress La La Anthony has revealed that she underwent emergency heart surgery earlier this year.
The newly single “Power” star made the shocking revelation in the November issue of Self magazine. In her cover story, the 39-year-old says she became aware of her heart condition in 2019 as she filmed “Beverly Hills 90210.” Her doctors told her about premature ventricular contractions, which occur when extra heartbeats disrupt the heart’s normal rhythm. The condition is marked by feelings of a “pounding” or “jumping” heartbeat. After becoming educated on PVCs, Anthony realized that she’d been dealing with the condition for years, stating that “I felt my heart racing all the time,” but thought it was normal since it had been going on for years.
“I didn’t even know that it was necessarily something wrong. I just thought, ‘Oh, you just feel your heart racing sometimes because you’re working too much, you haven’t slept, you’re stressed,'” Anthony explained.
After getting an EKG, she discovered that she had nearly 25 percent more heartbeats throughout the day than the average person. Doctors recommended she have a catheter inserted into the heart or cardiac ablation, which she put off due to her fear of needles. Anthony also confessed that she often didn’t take the medication that was prescribed to her. However, in June, all of her symptoms came to a head when she began turning pale and feeling light-headed. Her son pleaded with her to go to the hospital. Once she arrived, Anthony was informed that she needed heart surgery immediately to perform the cardiac ablation procedure. Thankfully, the two-hour-long surgery was successful.
“Right after I had the ablation, they put me on the EKG, and I’m looking at the monitor, and it’s just steady and regular. I don’t see a spike anywhere. It’s so crazy. Just that quick,” Anthony said.
Anthony hopes sharing her story will encourage others to take care of themselves and prioritize their health.
