Hailey Bieber reveals she had heart surgery after her mini-stroke and what caused the health scare

On March 10, Hailey Bieber suffered what she called a “mini-stroke” and later posted about it briefly in her Instagram Stories. Now, she’s taken to her official YouTube channel with a 12-minute video where she explains what she calls the “perfect storm” of circumstances that led to her mini-stroke, and how she had an operation to repair a hole in her heart.

"I had a very scary incident on March 10th," she said off the top of the video. "Basically, I was sitting at breakfast with my husband, 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, and it made my fingertips feel really numb and weird."

"Justin was like, 'Are you OK?' and I just didn't respond because I wasn't sure. And then he asked me again and when I went to respond, I couldn't speak. The right side of my face started drooping. I couldn't get a sentence out. Everything was coming out like, not even jumble, just like, couldn't get any of the words out."

"I had so many things running through my head," she continued. "The number one thing being, 'I'm having a stroke. I'm really scared. I don't know what's going on. I don't know why this is happening. Am I gonna have permanent issues from this?'"

She goes on to say that Justin had someone call an ambulance and a doctor, and there was even a moment of levity as she was being rushed to hospital.

"There was actually a funny moment where they were calling into the hospital to explain what they were bringing in and they were like, 'I have a 30-year-old female,' and I was like, 'I'm 25!' I had to make sure that they weren't gonna age me five years for no reason, you know."

The hospital determined she had suffered a transient ischemic attack, also known as a mini-stroke. It usually only lasts for a few minutes and leaves no long-term side effects. Hailey refers to the condition as “TIA,” and explained how, after several tests and appointments, the medical team figured out what caused such a young woman (who is definitely not 30) to suffer this attack. 

She said the TIA was brought on by compounded circumstances: she began a course of birth control without seeking medical advice (despite her chronic migraines); she had recently endured a bout of COVID-19; and she had just done a long-haul return flight from Paris. She called those three things a “perfect storm” that caused the TIA. 

Doctors also determined she had a patent foramen ovale or a “PFO,” which is a small hole in the heart that normally closes after birth, but in her case, didn’t. She had to undergo a surgery where a device was implanted near her groin and traveled up to her heart to close the hole, which she says was around 12-13 millimetres in length. Her heart tissue should grow over the device. 

She described the operation as going “very smoothly” and said that she’s recovering well.

“The biggest thing I feel 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,” she added.

“If there’s anybody that watches this that has gone through the same thing or something similar, I definitely really empathize with you,” she stated at the end of the video. “And I understand how life-altering and scary it is.”

Back in March, a source told People that hubby Justin was “still very worried. He can barely sleep. He stays up watching her while she rests." Now we can totally understand why Justin and Hailey were smooching and mouthing “I love you” on the Grammy’s red carpet in early April.