Community’s Yvette Nicole Brown Reveals Health Scare That Changed Her Life: ‘It’s Not Size or the Scale, It’s Health’ [Exclusive]
As a character actor starring in NBC’s hit series Community, Yvette Nicole Brown was never overly concerned about her size or weight.
But health and wellness were always important. So when Brown was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes while filming Community, she worked with her doctors to make healthy changes.
Today she’s feeling better than ever. And Brown wants to use her health scare as a platform to bring awareness to obesity and that it is a disease.
Yvette Nicole Brown discovered she had diabetes
Brown played Shirley Bennett, the beloved Community mother of the motley crew. Shirley attended Greendale Community College to study business so she could learn how to market her baked goods – something Brown says she really leaned into while filming the sitcom.
“Diabetes happened. I ate a lot of donuts,” Brown told Showbiz Cheat Sheet about her wake-up call that she needed to get healthy.
“Your pancreas decides whether it’s going to make insulin or not and mine said, I won’t do it anymore. So I got diabetes, she said. “So I talked to my doctor and figured out the best way for me to manage my situation. And thank God. And the funny thing is I get compliments on how I look. It’s like, yeah, I might look cute, but these A1C numbers are gorgeous.”
What is the ‘It’s Bigger than Me’ campaign?
Getting healthy and managing her diabetes meant that Brown dropped a significant amount of weight. This is something that Brown said should be discussed with a doctor. Brown joined the “It’s Bigger Than Me” obesity awareness movement, which hopes to help lead and open discussions about obesity.
“Obesity is complex, right? What will help someone is if they go to their doctor and talk to their doctor about the best way for them to deal with the disease that they’re facing,” she said. “That’s why this initiative is important because the most important thing is obesity is a disease.”
“If they go to It’s Bigger Than Me, they can find out what it is, how to manage it,” she said. “And then our wonderful video series that begins on March 8th, which is an offshoot of the amazing tour that Queen Latifah did.”
“We have conversations with doctors and influencers,” Brown said. “And people who are living with obesity to understand what it’s like for them. And what is the shame of it.” The videos and conversations are also designed to help people understand how to talk to their doctor about obesity and first steps.
“Because two out of five Americans are dealing with obesity … two out of five!” she exclaimed. “That’s a lot of people. And so that means every single one of us is either dealing with it ourselves. Or we know someone who is or loves someone who is.”
Would Yvette Nicole Brown like to see Shirley discuss obesity on ‘Community’?
Talk of a Community movie revival is constantly being buzzed. So would Brown like to see Shirley return with a message of health?
“I leave those questions to the brilliant mind of Dan Harmon,” she said about the creator of Community. “Dan can create whatever movie he wants to create. And as we did through the years, we all just showed up and read the lines that were given to us.”
“So if they were to create anything for anybody in the movie to talk about an important disease, I think that would be a great gift to the fans of the show,” Brown mused. “And the thing that I’m so excited about the film is that the fans wanted it so bad and they wanted it for so long.”
Ultimately, Brown says the bottom line is health should always be the goal. “If you go to It’s Bigger Than Me, you can find out how to start the conversation amongst your friends, how to be an ally or advocate for your family members and just get the ball rolling,” she said. “Because health is always the goal. It’s not size or the scale. It’s health. Health is most important.”
