In her own words. After Hailey Bieber (née Baldwin) was sent to the hospital following a blood clot in her brain, she opened up about her experience.
“I had a very scary incident on March 10, basically I was sitting at breakfast with my husband [Justin Bieber], having a normal day, normal conversation and we were in the middle of talking and all of a sudden, I felt this really weird sensation that kind of like traveled down my arm from my shoulder all the way down to my fingertips,” the model, 25, explained in a YouTube video, which was posted on Wednesday, April 27. “It made my fingertips feel really numb and weird.”
The New York native revealed that the “Peaches” crooner, 28, had asked how she was feeling but she did not respond “because [she] wasn’t sure” before noting that she couldn’t speak. Hailey indicated that the right side of her face started drooping and she struggled to form words.
The twosome — who wed in 2018 — thought Hailey was having a stroke, which she called the “scariest moment of [her] life.” They immediately called for medical attention in the middle of their breakfast before heading to the hospital.
“It was like my tongue and my mouth could not form sentences,” she recalled, noting that her face only had drooped for approximately 30 seconds. “I noticed that when the speech [eventually] came back and I felt like I could talk, as soon as my anxiety would settle in or hit me, it would make my speech feel funny again.”
Hailey noted that she was “pretty much back to normal” by the time she arrived in the emergency room.
“[Doctors] were able to see that I had suffered a small blood clot in my brain, which they labeled and categorized as something called a TIA [Transient Ischemic Attack], basically it’s like having a mini-stroke,” the beauty entrepreneur added. “I felt really thankful and grateful that it wasn’t worse and I wouldn’t have any permanent issues.”
Stephen Baldwin’s daughter was held overnight and underwent a variety of scans and tests, but the medical team had no definitive reasoning behind the cause of her illness. They inferred that Hailey’s recent birth control prescription, her COVID-19 bout and a recent long-haul flight may have been contributing factors.
After a follow-up appointment, Hailey was diagnosed with a Grade 5 PFO — Patent Foramen Ovale, which is a flaplike opening in the heart per a Mayo Clinic definition. Doctors recommended closing the hole in surgery.
“It went very smoothly and I’m recovering really well, really fast,” she added in her Wednesday video. “I feel great. The biggest thing I feel, honestly, is I just feel really relieved that we were able to figure everything out, that we were able to get it closed, that I will be able to move on from this really scary situation and just live my life.”
The YouTube personality previously confirmed her hospitalization last month, recalling how she “started having stroke-like symptoms and was taken to the hospital,” Hailey wrote via her Instagram Story on March 12. “They found I had suffered a very small blood clot in my brain, which caused a small lack of oxygen, but my body had passed on its own and I recovered completely within a few hours.”
She continued, “Although this was definitely one of the scariest moments I’ve ever been through, I’m home now and doing well, and I’m so grateful and thankful to all the amazing doctors and nurses who took care of me! Thank you to everyone who has reached out with well wishes and concern, and for all the support and love.”
The Canada native has been staying by his wife’s side since her health scare.
“Justin has been worried sick,” a source exclusively told Us Weekly in March. “[He] feels very out of control of the situation. … [He] appreciates her now more than ever.”
