I know Jet Li’s pain: Model-actress Christine Kuo is healthy again after hypothyroidism hell
The part-time racing driver is happier these days after overcoming a thyroid illness that almost ruined her career and caused her to fall into depression
When reading about the misfortunes of martial arts superstar Jet Li Lianjie recently, Hong Kong model-actress and part-time racing driver Christine Kuo Yun-hui couldn’t help but be reminded of her own struggles with a devastating thyroid illness that caused her to fall into a state of depression and almost ruined her career.
The Taiwan-born Canadian actress understands what the kung fu star must be going through, having experienced a nightmarish 10 months in 2013 before being diagnosed with hypothyroidism, an acute disorder of the thyroid gland.
Hypothyroidism and hyperthyroidism are different from each other but they have similar devastating effects, as 34-year-old Kuo can attest.
In layman’s terms, with hypothyroidism, the thyroid gland doesn’t make enough thyroid hormone for the body’s needs. With hyperthyroidism, or overactive thyroid, the thyroid makes too much.
“Jet Li’s is opposite to what I had. He got hyperthyroidism. I could feel for his helplessness and his frustration in that moment,” said 34-year-old Kuo, a former winner of the Miss Chinese Toronto and Miss Chinese International beauty pageants.
“We are both public figures and it happened to us. It seems we have been placed in front of an audience. He has experienced many things. I feel in some degree that his attitude is better than mine,” said Kuo of the 55-year-old Beijing-born actor, whose frail looks in a recent photo of him visiting a temple shocked millions of fans as the image went viral.