Jo Frost, star of 2000s reality show Supernanny, opened up about a medical diagnosis that affects her entire body.
“I have survived more anaphylactic shocks than I’m prepared to go into detail about right now,” Frost, 55, revealed in a recent Instagram video. “I have anaphylaxis, a life-threatening medical condition to certain foods that will compromise my body so horrifically to the point of hospitalization.”
Frost went on to explain that she wanted to share her experience in order to raise awareness about the condition.
“Absolute millions of my community around the world, children and adults, live cautiously and anxiously navigating this journey with not nearly enough compassion, education and empathy from those who do not,” she explained. “Today, everyone will know someone or someone who knows of one with anaphylaxis.”
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Anaphylaxis can occur within seconds or minutes of exposure to an allergen and causes the immune system to release a flood of chemicals that can cause patients to go into shock, meaning blood pressure drops suddenly and breathing becomes difficult. Per the Mayo Clinic, signs and symptoms include a rapid, weak pulse, a skin rash, nausea and vomiting.
Frost noted in her video that she wants other people to may more attention to anaphylaxis patients, who must do a lot of their own work to determine what foods might cause problems.
“I did not ask for it, and it does not define who I am and the impact that I make in the world daily,” she said. “But it does impact how I live my life daily, like the precautions I take, the energy I have to use to discern with hypervigilance whether you do know what you’re talking about when you’re in a restaurant or just winging it because you can’t be asked to go to the back of the kitchen and truly ask the chef. It means your ‘it may contain’ labels are a consistent truth that you dodge accountability legally and put your greed before my safety.”
She continued, “By the way, I speak on behalf of those who also have celiac disease too, because we are all not faddy eaters. I’m not looking to be treated special, I’m looking to be treated with the same dignity and attentiveness as you just showed others.”
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Frost is best known for starring on the reality show Supernanny, which debuted on the U.K.’s Channel 4 in 2004 before an American version premiered on ABC the following year. The U.S. edition aired from 2005 to 2011 and followed Frost as she helped parents learn new methods for raising (and disciplining) their unruly children. The show was briefly revived in 2020 on Lifetime.
“People told me I was good with children,” Frost told People in 2020, explaining why she chose her career path. “It was just always very natural for me to hold babies and be around children; it’s just part of my DNA.”
