Taking her time. Lo Bosworth has learned that recovering from her “really serious” head injury is a marathon — not a sprint.
“I would say I have 85 percent improvement from where I was,” the 34-year-old former MTV personality told E! News in a candid interview on Friday, March 19, admitting that she experienced “some hesitancy” before coming forward about her traumatic brain injury. “I’m not sure if it’s going to get any better than it is now.”
Bosworth revealed via Instagram on Saturday, March 13, that she still struggles “to recall words from time to time” after a door at a New York City restaurant fell off its hinges and hit her in the head two years prior. “I was in the hospital and suffered a moderate to severe concussion for months,” she wrote, detailing the accident publicly for the first time.
After the 2019 incident, the Hills alum rushed to seek medical attention. “I had a huge bump on my head and a black eye,” she recalled on Friday. “The doctor told me if the door had hit me an inch further back, it could have been a really serious accident. … I hardly have a recollection of those first few weeks. I was terrified.”
Bosworth couldn’t spend long periods of time looking at a phone, computer or TV screen in the early days of her recovery. Though she was left bedridden, the reality of her injury didn’t set in right away. During one visit to her neurologist, the Laguna Beach alum had difficulty trying to differentiate quarters and dimes.
“It took me a solid 30 seconds to figure it out,” she told the outlet. “It was during appointments like that that I realized, ‘Wow, I really need to take it easy.'”
Three months after her major concussion, Bosworth was diagnosed with mononucleosis. The exhaustion she felt was extreme — but she didn’t know how to broach the subject with her social media followers when her injuries were primarily internal.
“Maybe I felt like the severity of it was not valid enough. … It’s very challenging when you look OK on the outside, but you’re not OK on the inside,” she explained. “If I had not been through this experience, I probably would also think, ‘You look fine. I’ve asked you out to dinner three times. Why can’t you make it?’ People were like, ‘What’s wrong with you?'”
The Love Wellness founder had the support of her friends, family and colleagues as she continued to find out the best treatments for her body. After a long process of trial and error, Bosworth saw positive results by changing up her diet and fitness routine. Even on days when she’s “feeling too down or tired,” the California native refuses to miss a workout.
“I used to be somebody that when it got too hard, I would just quit. And I don’t do that anymore,” she said. “I have learned to just push through the discomfort because I realize how much better I feel on the other side of that workout. We can tolerate more pain and discomfort than we ever thought imaginable. We are very resilient. … I’ve dedicated myself to improving my health. And now I feel really good every day. I feel healthy.”
While Bosworth still hasn’t felt 100 percent herself over the last two years, she’s made huge strides. There are still plenty of hurdles — including drawing blanks on friends’ last names and struggling to “find the words that [she’s] looking for” — but the Lo-Down author doesn’t plan on giving up any time soon.
“More than anything, I have the grit to continue to move forward,” Bosworth said on Friday. “That’s who I am as a person. I don’t like to be stagnant. Constant evolution is what makes me satisfied every day.”
