Lala Anthony had to have emergency heart surgery.
The MTV VJ-turned-Power actress recently revealed in a Self Magazine cover story that she was diagnosed with premature ventricular contractions (PVCs) in 2019. And in June of 2021, she had heart murmurs that were so disruptive that it caused her to pass out.
“I felt my heart racing all the time, but because it’s all I ever really knew, I didn’t even know that it was necessarily something wrong,” Lala Anthony, 39, told the magazine. “I just thought, ‘Oh, you just feel your heart racing sometimes because you’re working too much, you haven’t slept, you’re stressed.’”
Initially, she said, she was content with “self-diagnosing.” But when the problems became too severe to ignore, she rushed herself to the doctor. (For reference, folks: please don’t do that. If something doesn’t feel right, please go to the doctor.)
“I started feeling it even more — like this fluttering and this racing all the time,” Lala Anthony recalled. “I was like, ‘What is going on?’”
At that point, the doctors realized that her heart was beating at a rate that was 25 percent faster than the average person’s. The doctor prescribed her medication, but she didn’t take it because she said it made her feel dizzy. (Again, for reference: folks, please don’t do that. If a medicine doesn’t make you feel right, talk to your doctor and figure out a plan together.)
Ultimately, she got a catheter put in her heart through her groin area, and now, she goes for checkups every other month.
For what it’s worth: the same month that she had her emergency surgery, Lala Anthony filed for divorce from Carmelo Anthony.