Copyright Variety
Heart health is very personal for Jane Seymour. Coronary disease runs in her family. Seymour’s mother suffered a stroke and her father underwent valve replacement and quadruple heart bypass surgery. The actress even played a heart transplant recipient in the 2002 TV movie “Heart of a Stranger.” “I’ve watched four open-heart surgeries,” she says about preparing for that role. “It is quite extraordinary when you actually watch the surgery, and you see this miracle. You see the the actual arteries attached to the machine that manages it whilst they repair it. It’s like macrame. It is unbelievable what they do.” Seymour, best known for her starring role in the CBS series “Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman,” has now been named an American Heart Association DRTV (direct response television) ambassador. In a new national fundraising television spot for the AHA, Seymour talks about her parents while urging people to support the organization. The PSA debuted today throughout the U.S. Seymour first teamed up with the AHA two decades ago to promote the health benefits of pistachio nuts. “People need to listen to their bodies and pay attention to their symptoms,” Seymour tells me over a Zoom video from Ireland, where she is shooting her detective comedy drama series “Harry Wild.” “When you go to a doctor, he only can deal with what you can tell him. You have to know how to talk to them and you actually have to pay attention. If they say, ‘Take this pill every day at this time,’ that’s what you do. You don’t go, ‘Well, it says I might have achy joints.’ No, would you like 10 more years of life even if you have the occasional achy joint? I’m choosing 10 years of life, thank you very much.” She points to statistics that show heart disease is a leading cause of death of women. “Most women would say, ‘Oh, I’m terribly worried about breast cancer or all the cancers, but actually you’re much more likely to die from heart disease than all the cancers put together,” Seymour says. “That’s very important to know. And it’s important to know you can do something about it. You can be heart healthy. You can make the right choices in your food, in your exercise, in your choices — not smoking, get some exercise. Go for a walk, whatever it is, take the dog for a walk. You can try make sure you sleep, make sure you manage stress. “I think there’s this sort of obsession with how we look right now, rather than how our bodies are functioning,” she continues. “I think that should be part of the message, too. Take care of the machine, because this machine, that pump, that’s what’s giving you life, and you got to take it seriously.” A couple of days before our interview, Seymour’s best friend, producer and assistant director Nicolas Hippisley-Coxe, passed away. He died of cancer, but years ago he changed his life around when he was diagnosed with severe heart disease. He underwent open heart surgery and “I think he had had more stents than anyone has ever had,” Seymour recalls. Hippisley-Coxe lost about 60 pounds by changing his diet and exercising regularly: “He definitely gave himself at least 10 or 15 more years of life that he would have lost if he’d kept doing what he was doing.”
