Sarah Hyland’s Most Powerful Quotes About Her Health Struggles

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Scars on Display: Sarah Hyland’s Most Powerful Quotes About Her Health Struggles

Self-care every day. As she’s grown up in the spotlight, Sarah Hyland has opened up about a major part of her identity: her health.

The Modern Family star underwent her first kidney transplant in 2012, following years of various health struggles. In a 2015 interview with Seventeen magazine, the actress recalled when doctors once told her mother that she would never have a normal life.

Her mother’s response in that moment has stuck with her ever since: “She said, ‘You’re right, she won’t — but it won’t be because of her health’ … If I can’t have an ordinary life, I might as well have an extraordinary one.”

Three years later, the Lipstick Jungle alum spoke candidly about a devastating moment in her journey. Through tears, Hyland admitted to Self magazine that she had gone through rejection and had quietly underwent a second kidney transplant in September 2017, just days after her first date with her now-fiancé, Wells Adams.

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“For someone being so tiny to have a stomach that looks like the New Jersey Turnpike, just shows who I am and what kind of character I have,” Hyland said proudly in the same interview, confirming that she was stable and in a good place after the transplant.

Hyland kept her journey private at first, but has gained the confidence to open up about her health struggles more and more each day. The “Met at a Party” singer admitted to once being “very, very, very close” to taking her own life amid her medical trauma, but has since found the support she needs in loved ones like Adams.

“Imagine having 16 surgeries, going to hundreds of doctors’ visits and taking thousands of pills. Imagine losing crazy weight because of dialysis, medication side effects and stress. Then imagine having to do it all over again,” the Bachelorette alum told Us Weekly in December 2018. “I know Gal Gadot is Wonder Woman on film, but Sarah is the real-life version.”

When the coronavirus pandemic hit in 2020, Hyland got real about being more at risk of catching the illness due to her prior health concerns.

“I am obviously immunocompromised with my transplant history and am on immunosuppressants, so everything in this house is sanitized,” she said on Brad Goreski‘s “Brad Behavior” podcast in March 2020, joking, “I just took a shot of hand sanitizer, so we’re good.”

The actress went into further detail about how certain symptoms stick around longer because of her conditions, adding, “Say someone gets a 24-hour bug, I get it for a week or more. For me, it’s really dangerous. My panic level is pretty high, but I also have a lot of health issues that are very susceptible to stress, so I’m trying to remain calm.”

Scroll to read more of Hyland’s most powerful quotes about her health struggles.

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Extraordinary Strength

While gracing the cover of Seventeen magazine in April 2015, the Modern Family star opened up about how her hardships have taught her to be strong. “I was born with so many health issues that doctors told my mother I would never have a normal life. And she said, ‘You’re right, she won’t — but it won’t be because of her health’ … If I can’t have an ordinary life, I might as well have an extraordinary one.”

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Claiming Her Time

In May 2017, Hyland clapped back at haters who accused her of promoting anorexia. “I haven’t had the greatest year. Maybe one day I’ll talk about it but for now, I’d like my privacy,” she wrote at the time. “I will say that this year has brought a lot of changes and with that, physical changes … My circumstances have put me in a place where I’m not in control of what my body looks like.”

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Opening Up

Following a frightening medical rejection, the Wedding Year actress revealed that she privately underwent a second kidney transplant in September 2017. After the organ her father had donated to her in 2012 failed, Hyland told Self magazine through tears, “When a family member gives you a second chance at life and it fails, it almost feels like it’s your fault. It’s not, but it does.”

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The Power of Love

During the same revealing interview, the Lipstick Jungle alum gave a touching tribute to her then-boyfriend, Adams. “He’s seen me at my worst. I think that’s why I feel the most beautiful in his eyes, because he still finds me beautiful after seeing all that. It was a really intimate start to a relationship to have to go through those hurdles at the very, very, very beginning when you’re just even getting to know a person.”

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Sharing Her Truth

“Sometimes a selfie is more than just a good angle or feelin cute,” the actress shared on Instagram in June 2018 after admitted that she had been hospitalized once again. “Here is my face that was torn from work against my will. But I’m very grateful it was. Health should always come first.”

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Making Strides

In June 2018, Hyland documented her return to the gym after her lengthy stay in the hospital. “Abs here I come. It’s been a while … Strong > skinny.” The actress later revealed to her followers that she weighed only 75 pounds earlier that year.

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#ScarsOnDisplay

Just weeks after her hospitalization, Hyland took a moment over the Fourth of July holiday to appreciate her body for what it is, scars and all. The actress had previously admitted more than once that she had “never been afraid” to show her scars.

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Coming Clean

During an appearance on The Ellen DeGeneres Show in January 2019, she opened up about being “very, very, very close” to taking her own life “Every person with their anxiety or depression or if you have suicidal thoughts, every individual is different, so I wouldn’t just rely on everything that I say. I’m just sharing my story,” she said. “But I think talking to someone and saying it out loud really, really makes it sound almost ridiculous and it puts it into perspective.”

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KUPA Positivity

After performing with Jordan McGraw at the 2019 Teen Choice Awards, the longtime ABC star recognized her strong decision to not wear any shapewear to the star-studded event. “A final thank you to my ever changing self-confidence for making the decision to not wear spanx and let my KUPA (kidney upper p–y area) shine like the badass bitch she is. 💖💖💖💖.”

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Extra Precautions

As the COVID-19 crisis began to spread across the globe, Hyland shared some of her fears about being more at risk for catching the virus. “I am obviously immunocompromised with my transplant history and am on immunosuppressants, so everything in this house is sanitized,” the actress said during a March 2020 episode of the “Brad Behavior” podcast, noting that she was doing her best to “remain calm” amid the pandemic. “Say someone gets a 24-hour bug, I get it for a week or more. For me, it’s really dangerous. … My game plan right now is to stay home.”

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Invisible Illness

In August 2020, Hyland got real about what she’s learned about herself through her “invisible illness” and immunodeficiencies. “Every time I feel down, I remind myself that things could be so much worse. … Health is something that a lot of people take for granted,” she told HelloGiggles at the time. “I don’t think some people have had a situation put in front of them to make them really appreciate life, and to know how fragile life is.”

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Comfortable in Her Skin

“One day they’re saying, ‘Sarah, eat a cheeseburger,’ and the next they’re saying, ‘What happened to her face? It’s the size of a moon,'” the New York native dished during a November 2020 episode of her “Lady Parts” web series as she reflected on the challenges of being a woman in Hollywood. “I don’t think there’s a woman on Earth that hasn’t at least one time or another felt like, ‘I don’t look the way I should look.'”

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Looking Back

While participating in the viral “Post a Pic” challenge on Instagram, Hyland reflected on a time she was at her “worst but had to fake being okay for a pic.” She posted a photo of herself at a 2017 fashion show with Vanessa Hudgens with the caption, “Was on dialysis and had my heart broken [by ex Dominic Sherwood] just days before this picture. Thank god I had @vanessahudgens by my side at that event.”

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COVID ‘Panic’

In the early days of the coronavirus pandemic, Hyland explained that she was taking the CDC’s quarantine recommendations seriously because she faced a major health risk given her previous conditions.

“Say someone gets a 24-hour bug, I get it for a week or more. For me, it’s really dangerous. My panic level is pretty high, but I also have a lot of health issues that are very susceptible to stress, so I’m trying to remain calm,” she said on the “Brad Behavior” podcast in March 2020.

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No. 3

The Blind Date star celebrated getting her COVID-19 booster shot in September 2021, reminding her fans to “trust SCIENCE” in an Instagram Story post.

Six months prior, she encouraged her followers to get vaccinated. “The luck of the Irish prevailed and HALLELUJAH! I AM FINALLY VACCINATED!!!!!” she wrote via Instagram. “As a person with comorbidities and on immunosuppressants for life, I am so grateful to receive this vaccine.”

She continued: “I am still remaining safe and following CDC guidelines but once I receive my second dose? I will feel safe enough to go out every once in a while… GROCERY STORE HERE I COME! Thank you to the amazing Drs, nurses and volunteers working every day to help save people’s lives.”

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Affecting Her Job

During an appearance on former costar Julie Bowen’s “Quitters” podcast in February 2022, Hyland revealed how her health impacted her work.

“There are some episodes of ‘Modern Family’ where I do not remember filming because I was asleep,” she said, noting that her kidney dysplasia caused her to feel exhausted. “You have to be a certain level of sick in order to receive a transplant. I was reaching that certain level of sick. I was not able to be awake for eight hours at a time.”

Hyland, who had two kidney transplants, experienced suicidal thoughts after the first surgery wasn’t successful.

“That’s where I felt suicidal. I would avoid going into [organ] rejection and being on dialysis at all costs. Just energetically I was like, ‘This is just hard for me to do anymore. And it would just be easier for everyone else too,’” she added. “When you have grown up your entire life having health issues and always being pain, you have to learn how to have thick skin, put on a show otherwise you’re just going to be looked at as a really weak and pathetic and sad person.”

The New York native added: “I don’t like to victimize myself. I don’t like other people to victimize me. I had almost 27 years of putting on a show, whether it was on Broadway or in my family living room.”