Celebrities spark change when they talk about their health

One day, when actor and comedian Rosie O’Donnell was in her 50s, her body ached and her arms felt sore, but she pushed through the pain, not realizing she was having a heart attack. Eventually she agreed to go to a hospital, where she had surgery to put in a stent that saved her life.

Shortly after her 2012 heart attack, O’Donnell shared her experience on her blog. And during her 2015 television standup special, she spoke about how the experience changed her life.

O’Donnell’s candidness about her heart attack helped spread awareness about how it can present differently in women. She’s one of countless celebrities over the years who have opened up about their health conditions.

“Health disclosures by celebrities do matter, and we know this from decades of research across a lot of different health conditions and public figures,” said Dr. Jessica Gall Myrick, a professor of health communication at Pennsylvania State University. “They absolutely do influence people.”

Some of the earliest celebrity health disclosures happened in the 1970s and 1980s. When first lady Betty Ford was diagnosed with breast cancer just weeks after Gerald Ford became president in 1974, she spoke openly about her diagnosis, helping make talk of cancer less taboo. In 1987, first lady Nancy Reagan used her breast cancer diagnosis as a chance to advocate for women to get mammograms. Her disclosure came two years after President Ronald Reagan’s colon cancer diagnosis, about which the couple was equally as vocal.

In 1991, 32-year-old NBA superstar Earvin “Magic” Johnson revealed he had tested positive for HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. His disclosure, along with his work as an advocate for safe sex, helped shatter stigmas around HIV and AIDS.

“That celebrity disclosure really helped people see there was a wider susceptibly to HIV,” Gall Myrick said. “People were more likely to say, ‘I need to think about my own risks.’ It was very powerful.”

Other notable figures have shared their health experiences. Soap opera legend Susan Lucci, who was diagnosed with heart disease in 2018, has advocated for women’s heart health. Basketball great Kareem Abdul Jabbar talks about his irregular heartbeat, known as atrial fibrillation, and advocates for regular health screenings. Actor and comedian Jamie Foxx revealed he had a stroke last year. And actress Gal Gadot recently announced that she had brain surgery for a blood clot in February.

“Celebrity disclosures represent teachable moments,” said Dr. Seth M. Noar, director of the Communicating for Health Impact Lab at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill. “Searches for different health conditions often spike in the wake of these types of announcements. They cause people to think about these health issues, learn more about them, and in some cases change their behaviors.”

Celebrities also have highlighted the importance of CPR and the use of an automated external defibrillator, or AED, to restore a person’s heartbeat if they experience cardiac arrest.

Interest in CPR and AEDs spiked in 2023 after Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin went into cardiac arrest during an NFL game broadcast on national TV. Views of the American Heart Association’s hands-only CPR pages jumped more than 600% in the days following Hamlin’s cardiac arrest. Three months later, 3 million people had watched the AHA’s CPR video.

Celebrities can have a big impact because people tend to have parasocial relationships with them, Gall Myrick said. These are one-sided relationships in which a person feels an emotional connection with another person, often a celebrity. People may feel as if they know the basketball player they’ve watched on the court or the Hollywood actor they’ve followed, she said. They want to comfort them after a health disclosure.

Social media has increased this feeling of familiarity, as celebrities regularly share mundane — but fascinating — details of their daily lives, like what they eat for breakfast, their favorite socks or the meditation they do before bed.

“We spend a lifetime being exposed to celebrities through the media, and over time, you get to know these public figures,” Gall Myrick said. “Some feel like friendships.”