42-year-old Jo Jordan, one of the stars of TV3’s recent reality tv show, Dublin Wives, took to Facebook yesterday to announce that she had suffered a heart attack just before Christmas. The bubbly brunette, who featured on the front cover of VIP early in 2013 with her co-star Lisa Murphy, posted the message on Saturday night, and immediately attracted hundreds of messages from well-wishers.
Jo put the health scare down to “stress and heart-break,” though she didn’t elaborate any further. “It was the scariest journey I have ever felt,” she wrote. “I’m only 42. Try not to stress and live your life to the full. I had an awful night but I can’t thank my friends and family enough.”
Jo has had her share of struggles in her life. Growing up in Ballymun, she was homeless at one stage in her youth. “I’m known as a Ballymunner,” she told VIP. “I”m so proud of it. It gave me the university of life.” She suffered heartache in her 20s when a former boyfriend, who was a garda, was killed on duty. She went through additional grief during the filming of Dublin Wives in 2012, when the cameras followed the very real collapse of her marriage. “The hard part was to live it,” said Jo. “I never regretted being so open, especially when I started getting Facebook messages from women who were in the same situation.”
Three years later, Jo is getting the similar messages on Facebook again, though this time due to her health rather than her marriage. Everyone in VIP Towers wishes her a speedy recovery.