TV presenter Emma Willis has opened up about her “smooth recovery” following heart surgery, but admits the revelation of having lived with a hole in her heart for 49 years left her feeling “scrambled”. The 49 year old recently underwent an operation to correct a congenital condition, which she confessed made her “really anxious and nervous”.
Speaking to The Sun newspaper, she said: “It’s a bit of a head scramble when you find out something like that, that you’ve had something there your whole life, and you had no idea about it. I’m a brilliant overthinker, and my mind will go in every possible direction and scenario, so going into something like surgery, I really got myself at it, I get really anxious and nervous.”
The star revealed that the recovery process has been more of a mental challenge than a physical one, as the healing is taking place internally and isn’t visible. “It’s been a smooth recovery, it’s been much more of a psychological adjustment, because you don’t have a wound that you can see. The healing is all internal and you can’t feel it.”
Emma also shared how she’s been grappling with the fact that her heart now functions differently after nearly half a century. At times, she’s felt “panicky” about living with a hole in her heart for so long, but credits her pop star husband Matt Willis, 41, for helping her manage her anxiety through breath work.
Emma Willis opened up about her experiences, saying: “Any kind of weirdness with it send you a bit panicky, but I’ve got a good little coach here on breath work and wellness.”
The couple is set to launch their new BBC series titled ‘Change Your Mind, Change Your Life’, which will take viewers inside real therapy sessions with members of the public, shedding light on various mental health issues.
Emma revealed that attending couple’s therapy was the “best thing” for her marriage to Matt, second only to having their children Isabelle, 15, Ace, 12, and Trixie, aged nine. She reflected on the positive impact of therapy, even though she felt their marriage was already strong: “We weren’t even really in a place where [we needed it], our marriage was great already.”
She also touched on the importance of communication within a relationship. She said “It’s about communication, which sounds really basic, especially when you’ve been with someone for twenty years, it’s like, ‘Well, how can you not communicate properly?'”
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