Vanna White credits her fans for helping her cope through tragedies

By mbrooks on October 25, 2019
NEW YORK – SEPTEMBER 27: (R) Host of the TV game show “Wheel Of Fortune” Pat Sajak and model Vanna White attend the 25th anniversary celebration of the television game show “Wheel Of Fortune” at Radio City Music Hall September 27, 2007 in New York City. (Photo by Astrid Stawiarz/Getty Images)

By Matthew Brooks

Vanna White knows tragedy and she also know that she is not alone. She says she finds comfort from her fans.

In a People interview, White talks about past tragedies where fans of “Wheel of Fortune” have reached out to her.

White says that her husband, Jon Gibson, died in a plane crash in 1986.

“The second I heard about it, I fell to my knees,” White says. “It was just devastating.”

At first, she thought she was all alone, left a widow in her twenties.

In an age before social media, fans took the time to write comforting messages to White.

“I heard from so many people who had shared the same experience of losing someone instantly in an accident, and that really helped me,” she says. “I didn’t feel like I was alone. Because when something like that happens, you immediately think you’re the only one.”

In 1992, she became pregnant for the first time.

The announcement was made as the answer to a puzzle on “Wheel of Fortune”.

One week later she suffered a miscarriage.

Again, after a devastating event in her life, she was not alone.

“You have to take their support and try to be strong. It’s so hard, but you just have to think, ‘What would they want me to do?’ ”

White says she also looked to her faith.

“I’m a Christian and have always had my own personal relationship with God,” she says. “I don’t preach about it, because everyone’s entitled to their own beliefs. But I pray. I pray every day.”

She tells People that she has no plans to leave the show.

“We’re one big family,” she says.

 

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