She concluded her message, which offered no other details, with a small plea to her fans and readers. “Please listen to your body and talk to your doctor — I’m very glad I did,” she said.

Smart’s health condition was not previously publicly known, but she has discussed her health publicly before, including her experience with Type 1 diabetes, even suggesting that she began her acting career as an indirect result of that, in an interview with The New Yorker.

“My mother insisted that I stay in Seattle for college. I had been diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes when I was thirteen, and she still hadn’t gotten over that by the time I was getting ready to graduate high school. She was afraid, I think, for me to go out of state to school,” Smart said of her decision to attend the “phenomenal theatre program” at University of Washington. “So I have my mother and my diabetes to thank.”

This is also not the first time heart health has impacted Smart’s life. The Emmy-winning actress and Hacks star lost her husband of more than 30 years, Richard Gilliland, unexpectedly in 2021 from a heart-related condition.