The "Beverly Hills, 90210" alum said she was nervous about disclosing her surgeries "because there's such a stigma around getting any of your joints replaced"
Jennie Garth is sharing that she’s undergone two hip replacements — at age 48, and then this year, at age 52 — revealing that she was “was nervous to open up about my hip replacements.”
“I’ve kept it a secret for so long, but I’m no longer at a place where I want to hide things,” the Beverly Hills, 90210 alum told Self in an interview published on Thursday, Sept. 12.
“I had wished during my journey of the first surgery that I could share my experience with people because there's such a stigma around getting any of your joints replaced. This is something that doesn’t just affect 80-year-olds,” Garth said.
The actress, who said she grew up horseback riding and dancing, shared that she’d ”lived with hip pain for a very long time.” A doctor later confirmed she had osteoarthritis — which she said her parents and sisters have.
As the Mayo Clinic explains, osteoarthritis is the most common form of arthritis, and "occurs when the protective cartilage that cushions the ends of the bones wears down over time."
But it wasn’t until a family ski trip where she couldn’t join in on any activities that Garth returned to the doctor. “I was in so much pain that I had to sit in the lodge and wait for them. That was very upsetting, as I felt like my quality of life was diminishing,” she told the outlet.
She also noted that “my husband [Dave Abrams, whom she married in 2015] is nine years younger than me and very fit. I didn’t want to be married to a younger man and start to break down.”
The doctor told Garth that her “hip joint wasn’t fitting right in its socket, and the tissue in the surrounding area was deteriorating,” and a hip replacement was the suggested treatment.
Unfortunately, it was right during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown. Garth said, “It was difficult to get elective surgeries, like this one, scheduled. I was stuck living with that pain, and it was getting worse and worse by the day as quarantine was happening.”
But having the surgery during COVID helped keep it a secret, she told Self. “The world was so quiet then. I knew I could get the surgery without anyone knowing and get better by the time life picked back up.”
Recovery was quick, the actress shared, adding she was back to her normal activities within two months. “I felt like [the] Bionic Woman — there was nothing I couldn’t do. I forgot all the time that I had a hip replacement; only having a four-inch scar on my body to remind me.”
However, earlier this year, Garth's right hip started to hurt worse than her left hip ever had. “I felt excruciating pain with every step — I’d be unable to get down on the ground or get back up,” she recalled. “Given the success of my brand-new hip, I knew it was a no-brainer: I needed to get the other joint operated on.”
Recovery from the second surgery, which took place in March, has taken much longer. She told Self that she was still "limping" after she was able to return to the gym. “I really have to baby it,” she noted, sharing that posting her workouts "really kept my fires burning throughout all of this."
“Truthfully, I was nervous to open up about my hip replacements. I’ve kept it a secret for so long, but I’m no longer at a place where I want to hide things,” Garth continued, crediting her I Choose Me podcast with inspiring her to share her surgery journey.
The actress said she’s had “positive responses from people that I’m helping them, which makes being vulnerable on places like my podcast, for example, feel good.” And while she says she's realized "my physical state has nothing to do with my spirit," the fact is, as you get older, "life starts to change at this age in the most beautiful ways."
"There are some scary and disappointing changes, like when you start to see and feel aging, but don’t be afraid of that," Garth said. "It’s a part of who you are moving forward.”
The Quran - Chapter Nuh: 05 - 07
He cried, “My Lord! I have surely called my people day and night,
but my calls only made them run farther away.
And whenever I invite them to be forgiven by You, they press their fingers into their ears, cover themselves with their clothes, persist ˹in denial˺, and act very arrogantly.
