The role of a lifetime

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By Doug Donaldson

Her father's battle against heart disease inspired actress Jennie Garth to take the mantle of heart-health spokesperson.

Before Beverly Hills, 90210, before the celebrity and the fame, Jennie Garth was just a little girl from the Midwest who adored her father. The two, who share a birthday—April 3—have always had an exceptionally close relationship. That’s why Jennie still gets upset when she thinks about her dad’s heart attack and subsequent surgery.

Her father, John, underwent an intense open-heart operation when she was 9. “I remember walking into the recovery room and seeing him unconscious on the bed,” Jennie says. “He looked like he’d been through a lot, very swollen and yellow everywhere from the iodine.” 

Jennie, now 35, vividly remembers walking over to her unconscious father, taking his hand, and kissing it. A nurse who saw the touching moment picked up a marker and drew a circle on John’s hand. She told Jennie that they wouldn’t wash off her kiss. Her father recovered from the heart attack and surgery, but not without making major adjustments in his life that affected his family and friends. Because of those life-changing experiences, Jennie shares her story as a spokesperson for the American Heart Association.