More Facts
Good Girls Don’t: Why doesn’t Brown ever play the good girl? “I moved 15 times before I graduated high school–I’m not the girl next door because I didn’t live next door to anybody!”
Tress Stress: “My natural hair is really light brown, and it gets blond in the summer. But it’s not spectacular for my features. I have big features, I can live with that, but with dark hair, you’re allowed to get away with more.”
Parental Guidance: “I see my mother and father almost every day. My dad and I have an organic garden in my backyard. We grow together and he waters it every day. My parents divorced when I was 4, but they’re very good friends. We spend every other Sunday together at my house and we all pitch in. He brings the food, so he harvests, she cleans it, and I cook it.”
The Man in her Life: “I’m hoping [musician] John Mayer will come to his senses and if he doesn’t, maybe [AMERICAN IDOL winner] David Cook will.”
Did You Know?
- The self-professed music nerd trained at the Los Angeles County High School For the Performing Arts and The Hamilton Academy of Music.
- When Brown was pregnant with Jordan, on-screen mom Jackie Zeman (Bobbie) threw her a baby shower. Prior to that, Brown gave the baby shower for Nancy Lee Grahn (Alexis).
- She’s officially credited as Sarah Joy Brown because “there is a woman in the SAG [Screen Actors Guild] union and she sent me a letter saying, ‘I will sue you if you continue using the name Sarah Brown.’ I had been on GH three, four years and I was like, ‘Who was this woman?’ I don’t think she’d worked in 15 years. The name is mine, but technically it’s not. I was born with it. I am Sarah Brown. I wanted my name, but she got there first.
Gluten for Punishment
Think Brown looks different? You’re right. After years of unknowingly living with an autoimmune digestive disorder, Brown was diagnosed with celiac disease. According to the National Foundation for Celiac Awareness, one out of every 133 Americans has celiac disease, but 97% remain undiagnosed. The affliction damages the small intestine and interferes with absorption of nutrients from food.
“When people with celiac disease eat foods with gluten, the body is unable to absorb nutrients, which leads to all sorts of health issues,” explains Brown. “Gluten is a protein in wheat, rye, barley, and in some cases oats. I would get really sick, and I didn’t know what was going on. I went on a trip down the dark side for about three years. It started before ATWT. I had some episodes in my life that didn’t make any sense, that came out of nowhere. I had to go to the hospital. My face would swell. Imagine being that way for many years and not knowing that you’re destroying your intestines? And gluten is so prevalent [in foods]. You wouldn’t realize the same thing that’s in bread is in ice cream. Any time I’d eat pizza, my face swelled. My eyelids would swell so much it would look like I didn’t have any eyelids. Now when I go out to eat, I ask a lot of questions. Whenever people ask me about my body, I want to make it clear I don’t have an eating disorder. I love food. And I still love bread, but I haven’t had it in three years. I may be a size 0, but it’s not because I starve myself. I’m very conscious of what I put in my mouth and I advocate eating well for everybody. I learned the hard way. You’ve got to know what you’re putting in your body.”
For more information on celiac disease, check out www.celiaccentral.org.
