The Truth About Carrie Ann Inaba's Health Over The Years
Carrie Ann Inaba has served as a longstanding judge on the hit reality show "Dancing With the Stars" for most of its 30-season run. Though she can be critical and honest, she's always quick to offer her comments to contestants with a smile. Per Oprah Daily, the former choreographer and dancer has been entertaining audiences since she was a child in her native Hawaii, before pursuing a music career in Japan and appearing as a "Fly Girl" on the series "In Living Color" (alongside Jennifer Lopez) in the 1990s. As detailed in Inaba's ABC biography, she went on to join "Dancing With the Stars" at the show's inception and remains the competition reality series' only female judge.
Inaba's warm personality also earned her a spot as one of the hosts of the CBS daytime series, "The Talk". According to Deadline, the reality star started on the show as a fill-in host in 2017, before landing a permanent hosting gig from 2019 to 2021, and eventually leaving to focus on her health. For the past few years, Inaba has been honest with fans about the scary set of health diagnoses that have made pursuing her passions a challenge.
Carrie Ann Inaba left 'The Talk' to prioritize her health
In April 2021, Carrie Ann Inaba announced that she would be taking a leave of absence from "The Talk" to manage her multiple chronic illnesses. (The DWTS judge has been diagnosed with Sjögren's syndrome, lupus, fibromyalgia, and rheumatoid arthritis, as she explained in a February post on her personal wellness platform, The Carrie Ann Conversations.) "We all know health is the most precious gift we have," Inaba wrote on Instagram. "And I need to take care of mine. I appreciate the love and support from all of you and from my family at The Talk. I hope to be back soon! Ready for action! I'm sending you all my love. And I'll update you on my progress... talk soon."
By August, Inaba had decided to leave "The Talk" altogether. "I enjoyed my time at 'The Talk' as co-host and moderator and I am grateful for the opportunity I had to grow with the entire Talk family as well as truly connect with viewers on such a personal level," Inaba said in a statement (via Deadline). "I will miss 'The Talk', but I am excited for the next chapter both for myself and for the show."
Carrie Ann Inaba manages multiple chronic illnesses
On her personal platform, The Carrie Ann Conversations, Carrie Ann Inaba has been open about what it's like to live with various autoimmune diseases — something which she calls "invisible" illnesses, per Prevention. "Over the years I've been diagnosed with Sjögren's syndrome, lupus, fibromyalgia, rheumatoid arthritis and I have the markers for antiphospholipid syndrome, which can lead to blood clots," she wrote in a post. "When many of us start our health journeys, even if we are fortunate enough to get a diagnosis, we can quickly end up with more questions than answers." In 2019, the multi-hyphenate went on an episode of "Live! with Kelly and Ryan" to reveal how she'd learned of her lupus diagnosis. "I was having a colonoscopy ... and I saw my chart [read] lupus and I was like, 'This is not my chart,' and they were like, 'You have lupus,'" she said.
Likewise, her Sjögren's diagnosis wasn't easy to come by. "I remember telling my doctor that my eyes had been dry for years. I asked him if I had Sjögren's and he said I didn't. It wasn't until many years later that I was diagnosed by a rheumatologist," Inaba told NIH MedLine Plus Magazine. "Getting the diagnosis was overwhelming and I went through a period of depression and anxiety. That was probably because I was not diagnosed for so long."