Jennie Garth on Healing From Two Hip Replacements and Aging with Confidence

I didn't want anybody to know

that I was getting a hip replacement

because I literally thought that is for old people.

I'm not old. I don't wanna be seen as old.

It just scared me.

[gentle inspiring music]

I had always had this clicking thing in my hip

and I had seen a doctor for it a while back

and they told me

that I had like slightly misshapen something in there

that made that clicking sound.

And I was a dancer when I was younger

and I would always hear the click

and then it became like more of a clump.

And then eventually it became something that was so painful

that I couldn't even go on a walk with my dogs.

I kind of knew osteoarthritis was coming

for me just because of my parents.

That's sort of a daunting thing to know you're in store for,

but it made sense just given my family genetics.

There was a lot of procrastinating

on getting the surgery because it was scary

and I thought, Oh, my, I'm too young.

I was 48 and approaching the big 50.

And I just kept putting it off

until I couldn't put it off anymore.

I couldn't do the things I wanted to do.

And I said, No, my life is not going to go down like this.

I'm not gonna be slowed down by something

that I can go potentially get fixed.

With a hip surgery, nowadays you're in and out the same day,

which I didn't believe,

but they have you walking like an hour

after with a walker. [giggles]

And I went home that day with my little walker

and we know, went straight to bed

and really tried to keep off my feet,

which was next to impossible for someone like me.

And within three days I had ditched the walker

and replaced it with a vacuum.

I was literally FaceTiming my sister

and vacuuming at the same time.

She didn't even know I had had the surgery.

And I was like, Look at me, I'm vacuuming.

And she was like, Okay, great. That's not a normal...

And I said, Wait, I just had my hip replaced

and I'm vacuuming.

She was like, Wait, what? You had your hip replaced?

[giggles] So I did not take it slow enough

on my first replacement.

I didn't give myself enough grace to be still

and let my body heal.

But remarkably, my first hip healed very quickly

and I was back and so active within two months probably.

One month I felt good,

two months I was on the go,

and by three months I forgot that I had even had it done.

And I had to remind myself, Oh, slow down, sister,

you got a fake hip now. [giggles]

But the second surgery took a lot longer to heal.

It still hurts.

It's still healing and I have to kind of baby it.

And I think so on emotional level,

I was just a little kinder to myself.

And on a physical level,

just working back into things slowly

and listening to my body,

instead of pushing through pain,

I would say, No, I need to modify this move,

or, I need to wait on this exercise because it hurts.

And I don't think that's something

you should push too early.

It's really hard for me to receive people's help

because I like to help people.

So that was hard for me asking,

Would you mind getting me some more water?

Could you please bring my medicines in?

That was challenging for me

and it's still challenging for me to ask for help.

That's just the kind of person I am, I guess.

As women, we're supposed to take care of others.

And when you shift

and you start taking care of yourself for you,

it just changes everything.

I felt my personal development

and my maturing was incredibly stunted

because I spent such formative years on a set

as a teen working so hard

and not having a sense of myself at all

and always trying to be pretty and look good

and have people like me and accept me and want me.

And my worth was dependent on looking a certain way,

feeling valued by others for whatever reason.

Your priorities shift as you get older.

The things you want change, things that were so consuming

and important in your younger years

just don't matter anymore.

And you really come to a place,

and thank God I came to this place

because I spent so much of my life wasting my time worrying

what other people thought of me.

And you come to this place where you're like,

I don't wanna waste my precious time on this earth worrying

about what other people think of me.

It's futile and it's damaging.

And so you just have to let that go. And you do.

It happens as you get older. It's okay to love yourself.

It's not selfish. It's vital.

So for me, doing that kind of work was really scary,

but I also felt like it was helping me.

I saw the growth and I could see the progress

and it wasn't overnight.

There were a lot of setbacks.

And then I ended up getting remarried

and then splitting up with my husband unexpectedly

three years into that marriage

and thought that that marriage had ended also.

And so I was like, I don't know if this is too personal,

too much.

Before we broke up,

we had been undergoing IVF treatments

and trying to have a baby and it kept failing.

And that was really, really hard on both of us individually

and on our relationship.

And when we decided to let go of that possibility,

it sort of freed us up

to love each other in a different way.

Dave is just an incredibly supportive, loving person,

and he loves to take care of me.

He's just always thinking of how he can make me happy

and make the day go better.

I'm so grateful for the generosity of his spirit

and his love every day.

So going through the operations I did,

I did wanna make it look easy.

I didn't wanna look old to him,

I didn't want him to see me struggling,

but I couldn't really hide it from him

'cause I wanted to hide it from the whole world.

I didn't want anybody to know

that I was getting a hip replacement

because I literally thought that is for old people.

I'm not old. I don't wanna be seen as old.

And it just scared me.

And then, I had to have that kind of epiphany

that your physical state has nothing to do with your spirit.

And no matter what physical condition I'm dealing with,

I still have a young spirit.

And I just encourage people, listen to your body,

respect your body

because this is the body we came into this world with

and this is the body we're gonna grow old with

and we have to take care of it.

And the first part of taking care of your body is

by listening to the messages that it's giving you.

And when something hurts, go have it looked at by a doctor

and do whatever you can to alleviate the pain

because you don't have to live in pain.

Modern medicine is so miraculous now, like a robot

and a doctor put two fake hips in me. [giggles]

And I am working out

and I'm doing all the things in my life I wanted to do.

It has not changed things

on such a level that I can't adjust.

And I have to tell you,

it really is the best time of my life.

[gentle inspiring music]