7. Randy Travis’s Broken Heart… No Really!

In the summer of 2013, word began to spread that Randy Travis was suffering from congestive heart failure. His condition has since stabilized.

The incident was the culmination of many years of lifestyle-related health problems for Randy Travis (real surname: Traywick).

His teenage years were filled with arrests for violence and drug use. At the age of 18, his life turned around when he met his future manager and wife, Elizabeth Hatcher.

Hatcher was owner of a nightclub where Randy was working, and she was unabashedly attracted to the young man and his songs.

In one of the strangest stories in show-biz history, the older woman adopted the young man as her son to get him out of a prison sentence, groomed him into a budding star, and then married him.

Among the 6,000,000 Americans who are diagnosed with congestive heart failure, Travis was one of the lucky ones. The disease starts when the heart begins to weaken, slowing the pulse. This makes the blood pressure rise, so the heart’s job gets harder as its strength grows less. To compensate, heart muscles stretch or grow stiffer, either of which can make the problem worse.

A healthy lifestyle and regular checkups will cut the risk and increase chances for a full recovery if an incident occurs.