Jen Hale is used to showing up under pressure, but her most important fight happened off-camera. The award-winning sports journalist, best known as an NFL sideline reporter for FOX Sports and an NBA courtside presence, has built a career on stamina. What viewers may not know is that behind the fast pace of live television, Hale has been navigating her own journey with heart disease—an experience that profoundly reshaped how she cares for herself.
In honor of American Heart Month, Hale opens up about the wake-up call that changed everything, her advocacy work with the American Heart Association and why listening to your body is the ultimate power move. From redefining wellness on the road to the simple rituals and go-to products that help her stay healthy and camera-ready, Hale proves that heart health isn’t just lifesaving—it’s life-enhancing.
February is American Heart Month. Why is your work with the American Heart Association so important to you?
“Truly, the work they’re doing is life-saving. It was a miracle in my own life. When I was originally diagnosed with dilated cardiomyopathy, I was told there were three scenarios: That about a third of the patients have five years to live, a third need a heart transplant and a third medication can work for.
Part of the process for me was going back through my family history. Turns out my father, my uncle and, I think, my grandfather—the medical records, of course, were not then what they are now…but going through the records, sure enough, it said dilated cardiomyopathy. For them, there were no options. Medication didn’t exist. Heart transplants weren’t nearly as commonplace.
Even though it took about two years to figure out which category I would fall into, it’s amazing to me that now I can take a couple of pills in the morning and a couple of pills at night, and my outcome is so much different than my dad and my uncles—and what we think likely would have been my grandfather’s cause of death.”
The Association’s overall messaging is to push women to just ask, just get checked. What is your one piece of advice that you give?
“Listen to your body and have confidence. You know yourself. If you feel like something’s wrong, you have to fight for yourself.
I actually went to three different doctors before this was caught. I’m a sports journalist, so I go really hard during football season and basketball season, and then it’s normal for me to crash out the week the NBA season ends and catch up on sleep. But the year I was diagnosed, 2018, I never came out of that. I never stopped sleeping 12 to 14 hours a day. I was sleeping through alarms. It got to where I would wake up in bed feeling short of breath, and I’d just been lying down. I’ve always been a big exerciser. That’s my happy place. It was getting harder and harder to do anything. I was getting out of breath walking, let alone running or cycling like I usually did.
No one ever even thought to check my heart because I was in my 30s, I didn’t smoke and I was female. I was told, ‘You’re approaching 40. This is normal fatigue. You’re probably entering perimenopause.’
Had it been caught the first time I went to a doctor, it certainly should have been a much shorter recovery time. My heart was down to 16% function by the time I was diagnosed. It should have been caught at a 30%, 40% type of deal. If you know something’s wrong and something’s off, do something! Of course, did I want it to be low vitamin D and vitamin B? Sure, that would have been great because that’s easy to fix. You take a few more supplements. Deep down, I knew this was more, but that’s what they told me, so I rolled with it.
It wasn’t until my ankles were four times their normal size and my waist was so swollen I couldn’t zip up pants or a skirt that I finally said, ‘No. Somebody has to find something else because this can’t be low vitamin D, low vitamin B or perimenopause. This has to be something else.’”
Besides staying on top of your health, how do you keep up with travel and sleep when you’re on the go?
“You have to prioritize sleep and budget it in like it’s part of your job. It’s so important to anybody’s recovery. That’s how the body restores itself. It’s hard. I know it means I skip other things that I don’t want to skip, especially with a little one, [laughs], but your body has to have that, especially if there’s some sort of underlying condition. I have to take care of myself, number one, because I feel like I was saved for a reason. I’m here to do something on this earth. Number two, I have a mom and my little one’s five. I want to see her walk down the aisle. I want to see her have children.
Invest in your health as well. I’m sure your readers are well familiar with the fact that vitamins aren’t regulated by the FDA. Not all are created equal. You have to get good products that are absorbable by your body and quality ingredients. The cheapest thing off the shelf might not be the thing for you. I highly encourage everyone to do a little research and make sure, as they’re taking these supplements and adding nutrients into their diet routine, that they’re quality products.”
You’re also always in front of the camera. Is there anything you know that really works for you for TV?
“Oh, gosh, I could talk about this all day. [laughs] I do mini lasers a lot. I think now that I’m in my mid-40s, that makes a big, big, big difference for me. Clear + Brilliant and DiamondGlow facials are key for me whenever I have something coming up or for regular maintenance. I do those about every two months.
I recently switched from under-eye concealer to pink eye tints. It is a game-changer. My makeup artist said, ‘I used to just do this for a red carpet, but now I do it for everybody, 20, 30 and over,’ because it is such a difference. It’s so much lighter and illuminates the under-eye area. I think it’s called an under-eye corrector. It’s a light pink tint instead of a heavy concealer that cakes and sets in those fine lines for you.
Then, loose powder. I will not be caught without loose powder. I have a natural shine, so with me on the sidelines. I have a little notebook. I don’t know if you’ve seen them. They’re the clipboards that flip open, and there’s a compartment inside. I’ve got my ChapStick, my lip gloss and my loose powder in there every day. The essentials!”
