The singer says her experience with heart disease left her with an important message to share, especially with other women. February is American Heart Month, in addition to being the month during which Grant learned of her condition. Cardiovascular disease is the No. 1 cause of death among Americans — per the American Heart Association, one in three women die from the disease.
“I guess all I can really share is from my own story,” Grant reflects when asked for her words of advice about heart health. “My birth defect was an encroaching killer, and I had no idea. And so my advice would be: Take care of yourself. The world needs you. Even if you feel like everything is fine, you don’t really know what’s going on inside.”
She added that she believes women are especially prone to de-prioritizing taking care of their health, as they juggle many other responsibilities in life. “It’s more like, ‘Oh, my children, my grandchildren, my work, my spouse,’ all of those things, and we need the gift of each other,” she points out. “So even if you go, ‘Oh, I’ve got nothing on the radar,’ just get somebody else to check it out.”