Hailey Bieber has shared her first official statement since she suffered a blood clot in her brain and was taken to hospital.
The 25-year-old model said that she was having breakfast with her husband and singer Justin Bieber on Thursday morning. She then started to experience “stroke-like symptoms” and was rushed to a hospital in Palm Springs.
“They found I had suffered a very small blood clot to my brain which caused a small lack of oxygen,” she said.
“But my body had passed it on its own and I recovered completely within a few hours.”
Bieber was released from the hospital over the weekend. She said on Sunday morning she was doing okay. But she acknowledged the experience was “one of the scariest moments [she’d] ever been through”.
“I’m so grateful and thankful to all the amazing doctors and nurses who took care of me,” Hailey Bieber said.
“Thank you to everyone who has reached out with well wishes and concern and for all the support and love.”
Justin Bieber did not release a statement about his wife’s diagnosis.
But he did share a photo of the two holding hands on Friday. He captioned it “Can’t keep this one down 🙏🙏🙏🥺🥺🥺🥰🥰🥰😍😍😍”.
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A source close to the Biebers reportedly told TMZ that a doctor believed the blood clot was related to COVID-19.
Justin tested positive for COVID-19 in February. He postponed his Las Vegas show because of his diagnosis. But Hailey Bieber did not publicly confirm whether she had tested positive as well.
The Heart Research Institute (HRI) reported people who test positive with COVID-19 have a greater risk of experiencing blood clots and strokes.
Recent data from the Netherlands and France found that 30-70% of COVID-positive patients admitted to intensive care units experience blood clots in their legs or lungs. One in four will develop a pulmonary embolism.
The HRI said these stats were disproportionately higher than ICU patients who did not test positive with COVID-19.
