Tisha Campbell is getting candid about her health journey after getting diagnosed with sarcoidosis.
Campbell, 55, recently sat down for an interview with The Mibo podcast, and opened up about how she’s been in remission from the inflammatory disease for several years.
“I have been in remission for four years now, and they can’t find it at the base of my brain at all,” an emotional Campbell shared during the live podcast taping, which elicited a round of applause from the audience.
According to the Mayo Clinic, sarcoidosis is “a disease characterized by the growth of tiny collections of inflammatory cells (granulomas) in any part of your body — most commonly the lungs and lymph nodes. But it can also affect the eyes, skin, heart and other organs.”
The Mayo Clinic explains, “There is no cure for sarcoidosis, but most people do very well with no treatment or only modest treatment. In some cases, sarcoidosis goes away on its own. However, sarcoidosis may last for years and may cause organ damage.”
According to Campbell, her issues with sarcoidosis caused complications when she got sick, which was why she “was so scared to get COVID.”
“Because I thought, ‘If I get Covid, I’m gonna die,'” Campbell said during the episode. “Every cold took me to the hospital, just every sniffle or allergies. It would build up, and I would get sick.”
However, Campbell laughingly explained that she has “not been sick ever since I got a divorce!”
Campbell filled for divorce from her ex husband, Duane Martin, in Fever 2018, fafter 21 years of marriage. Their divorce was finalized in December 2020. Together, the pair share two sons — 22-year-old Xen and 14-year-old Ezekiel.
While the root cause of sarcoidosis is unknown, it’s believed that the symptoms are caused by the body’s immune system overreacting to an unfamiliar substances, which cause the granulomas.
Campbell explained that she has worked hard to keep her illness at bay and has done everything she can to prioritize her health.
“I am here to say that I am so proud of where I am in my mental health and my physical health now,” she finished. “Because I understood that they are a combination. Whether you have any type of of disorder, it’s important to understand you got to do everything that’s right.”
“I’m just telling y’all the freaking truth — stress is a killer,” Campbell shared with the audience. “And it’s all connected to your body.”
Martin first opened up about her struggle with sarcoidosis in February 2011, when she addressed rumors that she was dying from the lung condition.
“Thank you, everyone, for your concern… However, no worry is needed,” Campbell said in a statement to people at the time. The actress said she had been dealing with the illness for 10 years at that point, but explained, “Through early diagnosis I’m happy to share that I stay healthy with diet and exercise.”
Campbell is best known for playing Gina Waters in the ’90s sitcom Martin — opposite Martin Lawrence — which ran from 1992 to 1997. In March, she spoke to ET at the NAACP IMAGE AWARDS, and addressed the long-running question about whether nor not a reboot of the sitcom might materialize someday.
According to Campbell, the cast and crew are not interested in doing any more Martin without one of their vital cast members, Thomas Mikal Ford — who died in October 2016 at the age of 52 from a ruptured abdominal aneurysm.
“No,” she responded when asked if there’s any hope for more episodes of the comedy series in the future. “Tommy’s not with us.”
For Campbell, returning to the show without a crucial member is just not an option.
“He was too much of an integral part of our cast and the whole entire legacy of it all,” Campbell noted. “I can’t see myself doing anything without Tommy. He’s too important to us.”
