Hannah Brown.Photo:Diana King
Diana King
“I was shaking uncontrollably and trying to grab my inhaler — but I couldn’t take in the air.” Alarmed, her fiancé,Adam Woolard, alerted a flight attendant, who came to Brown’s aid with oxygen. She was finally able to catch her breath, but the plane had to be diverted to Dallas, where Brown was met with a stretcher. “It was embarrassing,” she says, “but I got so scared because what are you going to do on a plane?”
Brown is one of nearly 26 million Americans who are living with the chronic respiratory illness, which causes inflammation and a narrowing of the small airways in the lungs — leading to a range of symptoms, including coughing, wheezing, shortness of breath and a tightness in the chest.
Hannah Brown at 5 years old.Courtesy of Hannah Brown
Courtesy of Hannah Brown
For Brown, who was diagnosed when she was 5 years old, coping with asthma has meant learning to anticipate when she might be most susceptible to an episode.
“I sometimes have to slow down or take a second to focus on my breath, because if I don’t, it can get to a place where it’s out of control — and an attack happens,” she says. “That’s the thing with asthma that’s so hard for me. It’s always a surprise. I never know when it’s coming.”
“I was a pretty sick kid, catching everything going around school,” recalls Brown, who has a younger brother, Patrick, 26 (who also has asthma), and a half sister, Alisa, 41. “I feel like I spent most of my childhood in a doctor’s office, doing my homework and playing I Spy.”
After her mother noticed Brown was often wheezing, visits to her pediatrician and further testing with an allergist confirmed an asthma diagnosis. She was prescribed an inhaler and was told to keep it close during physical activity.
“That was just something I had to do if I was going to be active,” says Brown, who was just 9 when she experienced one of the worst asthma attacks of her life during a theme party for a school project on the Middle Ages. The event included some 400 candles, and Brown began coughing from the smoke soon after she arrived at the auditorium.
Hannah Brown.Diana King
“It was one of those days I didn’t bring my inhaler, because I wasn’t doing any physical activity,” says Brown, who wound up in the nurse’s office for more than two hours, where they were finally able to stabilize her breathing with a nebulizer. “There’s nothing worse than feeling that you can’t breathe or control yourself enough to calm down,” says Brown, whose triggers include pollen and seasonal changes, and respiratory infections like a cold orCOVID, which can bring on severe attacks. “Especially as a child, that’s really scary.”
But asthma wasn’t the only childhood health challenge Brown faced. At age 11, she began suffering from painful stomach cramps, and when her general health began to decline, her pediatrician recommended a full body scan.
The procedure revealed an encased, malignant tumor on her pancreas, which doctors successfully removed in surgery. “They found it before it could fully attack the rest of my system,” says Brown, who went for regular checkups for several years after and remains cancer-free. “I got very sick with that, but I also got very lucky.”
By the time she was 15, Brown had started competing in beauty pageants — primarily as a way of earning college scholarships. “I cared about my schooling,” says Brown, whose talent as a dancer (“I danced every day after school — jazz, ballet, contemporary, anything and everything”) gave her an advantage at local pageants.
“It kept me very focused; I achieved my goals and learned the importance of hard work in anything that you do,” says Brown, who put her pageant days behind her and graduated from the University of Alabama in 2017 with a degree in public relations and communications.
Hannah Brown and her fiancé, Adam Woolard.Kenzie Hammock
Kenzie Hammock
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The following year, on a whim, she entered the Miss Alabama USA contest — and won. “I thought, ‘What the heck?’ and signed up two weeks before,” says Brown. Two months later, in July 2018, she got the call to become a contestant onThe Bachelor.“I was pretty clueless — I couldn’t have told you how a rose ceremony went, so it was kind of a joke to me,” she admits.
BachelorColton Underwoodsent her home halfway through the season, but she returned the following year asThe Bachelorette. (She and fiancéJed Wyattbroke up after it was discovered that Wyatt was already in a relationship.) “It was the wildest ride of my life,” says Brown, who hopscotched from her final rose ceremony over toDancing with the Starstwo months later — where she and her professional partnerAlan Berstentook home the Mirrorball trophy that same year.
Hannah Brown and Alan Bersten win Dancing With the Stars.Eric McCandless via Getty
Eric McCandless via Getty
Since then, Brown has returned to her southern roots—leaving L.A. behind and settling in Nashville, where she has found love away from the cameras with Woolard, 36, a private-client banker she met on a dating app in 2021.
On Aug. 24 Woolard surprised Brown with a ring and a proposal during a weekend retreat outside of Nashville with family and friends. “I did not catch on — and I loved the surprise!” says Brown. “Adam makes me feel loved and seen and accepted in a way I never have. He still has the ability to just calm me down and put me at ease.”
Hannah Brown with her dog, Wally.Diana King
“This was probably my favorite show,” says Brown. “It just reminded me how strong I am and what I’m capable of.” And when she’s not pushing through strength and workout sessions three times a week with her personal trainer, she’s sharing much of the rest of her life on her weekly podcastBetter Tomorrow.
“Focusing on my mental health has been really big for me,” admits Brown. “I feel like I show up now in my relationships and my life and my career . . . and with my listeners, I feel like we can grow together.”
As busy as she is, Brown has also learned to manage her needs and prioritize her health. “Asthma doesn’t let me off the hook — it’s something I have to be aware of,” she says. “But I won’t let it stop me or keep me from pursuing the things that are important to me and the dreams I have to chase. I just chase them, one breath at a time.”
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source: people.com
