Catherine O’Hara’s Rare Medical Condition Resurfaced After Her Shock Death at 71

In a truly unexpected turn of events, the legendary actress, Catherine O’Hara, known for her roles in Schitt’s Creek, Home Alone, Beetlejuice, and more, has tragically passed away at the age of 71 after a brief illness.

Amid her death, many are revisiting her most iconic roles, her life in photos, who her family is, and even her past revelations. You may or may not know this, but O’Hara had a rare medical condition known as situs inversus, which is a rare congenital condition in which someone’s internal organs are “flipped,” meaning her heart was on the right side, her spleen on the right, and more. (According to the Guardian, many stars have it, like O’Hara, Enrique Iglesias, and Donny Osmond.)

The Nightmare Before Christmas star discussed her condition in a previous video interview now on YouTube. “I’m a freak,” she laughed. “I love Western medicine, I just don’t want to be a part of it.”

She told the tale of how she found out, saying, “I had to get TB tests when our younger son was in co-op nursery school.” She had to do some baseline tests, but then after those, the doctor wanted her to do even more tests, much to O’Hara’s dismay.

She then talked about how when she stepped back into the doctor’s office, he exclaimed to her, “You’re the first I’ve ever met.” O’Hara then talked about how she didn’t know the name because she didn’t want to, but her husband joked about it, saying her organs are “on backwards.”

Now, is situs inversus dangerous? Nope! Around 1 in 10,000 people get it, making it quite rare, but people find out about it by accident since it’s usually asymptomatic, per the Cleveland Clinic. And O’Hara herself even joked about it whenever it came up, showing she was truly forever the optimist.