Sarah Hyland admitted she once "contemplated" taking her own life.
The actress, 34, is best known for her role as Haley Dunphy on the smash hit Modern Family. She also has landed herself a host of other gigs as a Hollywood star, with her most recent presenting role coming in the form of Love Island USA in 2022 and 2023.
However, the star has faced a hidden health battle for years, and opened up on how the condition affected her as she shot to worldwide fame. But despite the fortunes she earned while on the show, Sarah revealed she thought about doing the unthinkable.
READ MORE: Love Island host Sarah Hyland’s life – health battle, co-star romance and legal issues
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As a child, Sarah was diagnosed with kidney dysplasia, meaning that her kidneys were deformed, not properly growing while she was in the womb. This can also mean that cysts can grow on the kidneys, which in turn can cause swelling in the abdomen for young children.
In order to tackle the disease, Sarah received a kidney from her father in April of 2012. While the operation was initially a success, in October of 2016 - Sarah's body began to reject the kidney, leading her down a road of health complications.
Speaking in an interview with SELF magazine in 2018, Sarah admitted doctors were doing all they could to save the kidney as her body continued to stop it from working. "Christmas break, New Year’s, Thanksgiving, my birthday, all of that spent in the hospital," she recalled.
Eventually, the kidney was rejected and removed after medics described the organ like a "burning house". Undergoing dialysis - using a machine to filter blood in lieu of a working kidney, Sarah was put through her paces with regard to her health, as her weight plummeted - leading to concern from fans on social media.
A second transplant was carried out in September of 2017 after her brother Ian, 29, gave up one of his kidneys for his sister. Thankfully, the operation was a success and the kidney was a match, but Sarah admitted she was not in a good place during her ordeal.
"I was very depressed," the actress said. "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.
"For a long time, I was contemplating suicide, because I didn’t want to fail my little brother like I failed my dad," she added. However, she was lucky enough to reach out for help and was eventually put in touch with someone to help her process her emotions.
Sarah said she was happy to have had someone to talk to during those times, insisting that she feels no shame for her suicidal thoughts. "For anybody that wants to reach out to somebody but doesn’t really know how because they’re too proud or they think that they’ll be looked upon as weak, it’s not a shameful thing to say."
Sarah has since recovered well from her second transplant and is now able to live a normal life. However, she has also opened up on other health battles, including a heartbreaking and painful endometriosis diagnosis.
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