Tiffani Thiessen is opening up about her health issues after dealing with a slew of admittedly painful conditions.
“I have to get a hip replacement — I do,” the Saved by the Bell alum, 52, said on the Tuesday, November 10, episode of Tom Papa’s eponymous podcast. “I was a dancer when I was younger, which was a good thing, [and] I have a torn labrum, that’s one issue I have. Then, I found out, going to my second opinion, … I have hip dysplasia.”
Hip dysplasia, according to the Cleveland Clinic, occurs when bones in the hip joint no longer properly fit together.
“So, when I was very flexible as a young child has now caused my issue now,” she quipped. “I hear the hip replacements aren’t as bad as knee and shoulders [replacement procedures].”
According to Theissen, she has been in so much pain that she’s unable to carry out certain tasks, including a friendly game of pickleball.
“We play [as a family],” the actress, who shares two kids with husband Brady Smith, added. “My doctor didn’t say it was pickleball, but it probably is not help[ful]. I have not been able to play in the last couple weeks ‘cause my hip’s been so bad.”
Theissen has also recently been splitting her time between California and Vancouver, Canada, while filming her new show, Disney+’s Coven Academy.
“It’s a great city. I am in the same time zone so that’s helpful for my family, and it’s an easy flight so I try to come home. I never go more than two weeks without seeing my family,” she said of working in the Canadian city. “It’s definitely an adjustment. It’s not what I love, two weeks is big [but] Mama’s got to work.”
Coven Academy, in which Thiessen plays headmistress Emma Graves, was recently greenlit for a second season.
“Season 1 was a huge cliffhanger with my character, so, you find out a big sort of connection between me and the lead girl, and so that’s going to be, probably, something they’re going to have to deal with in season 2,” the actress teased of Emma being revealed as the birth mother of Malina Pauli Weissman’s Briar Roberts. “The baggage of season 1 goes to season 2. Lots of cliffhangers for a lot of the characters actually, but mine was the big one at the end.”
Thiessen’s role on Coven Academy has even impressed her real-life kids: Harper, 16, and Holt, 11.
“I’m always trying to make sure I’m cool in their eyes, which is not always the case,” she said. “I think my daughter when I got this job, there’s a kid on the show, his name is Malachi Barton, and he’s this huge [young star and] the girls love him, very handsome, very cool guy, dancer, you know, all this.”
When Thiessen filmed the pilot episode with Barton, 19, she said her daughter freaked out.
“My daughter [was] like, ‘Hey, who’s on the show with you, Mom?’ And so, I went down the cast and I got to Malachi and she goes, ‘Wait, I’m sorry, what?’ I go, ‘Yeah, this kid named Malachi Barton is super cute.’ She’s like, ‘Mom, I follow him. He is a massive influencer.’”
