Catherine O’Hara previously spoke about rare genetic condition situs inversus

Catherine O’Hara had previously revealed that she lived with a rare congenital condition known as dextrocardia with situs inversus, a genetic variation in which the body’s organs are positioned in reverse.

The Emmy-winning actor died at home on Friday, Jan. 30, at the age of 71 after what Variety and Deadline described as “a brief illness.” No cause of death has been made public.

During a 2020 interview on winemaker Kathryn Hall’s Virtual Happy Hour, O’Hara spoke openly about the condition. “I’m a freak,” she said while laughing. “I don't even know the name because I don't want to know the name.”

She explained that she learned about the issue many years earlier after undergoing an electrocardiography test and an x-ray examination.

Situs inversus is described by the Cleveland Clinic as a genetic variation in which the organs in a person’s chest and abdomen are located on the mirror-image side of normal anatomy.

The clinic states that people with the condition can live normal lives and that it is typically harmless, with most individuals unaware they have it because there are no symptoms that require treatment.

O’Hara said she had the form known as dextrocardia, where the heart faces the right side of the chest while the other organs are reversed. She recalled that her husband, Bo Welch, was with her when doctors explained the findings.

“When the doctor told us that my heart was on the right side and my organs were flipped, my husband immediately said, ‘No, her head’s on backwards.’”

The actor added that she chose not to research the diagnosis in depth. “I love Western medicine. I just don't want to be part of it.”

She also said, “People are gonna think I'm so ignorant not to know this, but I kind of don't want to know, because I didn't know before. Never heard anything about this with anyone else. We're driving home, and I think, I wonder how my other siblings, if they know where their hearts are.”