‘Every day is a challenge’: Beloved Big Brother star Reggie Bird shares update on her health battles

Two-time Big Brother winner Reggie Bird has opened up about the health issues that will inevitably leave her both deaf and blind.

In the ever-revolving world of reality TV, it’s rare for a personality to remain much loved over the years.

Reggie Bird, who won Big Brother Australia in both 2003 and 2022, is one of those people.

Since her initial victory on the show 20 years ago, Reggie, now 49, received even more support when her health issues made headlines.

One year after she won the series, she was diagnosed that retinitis pigmentosa – a rare degenerative eye disease that causes severe vision impairment. Then, in 2008, she was declared legally blind when she lost 90 per cent of her central vision.

Another setback occurred in August 2022 when months after her second winning BB stint, she was diagnosed with stage-two Usher syndrome, a genetic condition that causes deafness or hearing loss. Therefore, Reggie will sadly and inevitably lose both her vision and hearing at some point in the future.

Reggie Bird is using her platform to raise disability awareness across the country. Picture: Kevin Farmer

“It’s a battle. It’s a definitely a challenge living with retinitis pigmentosa. Every day is a challenge,” she tells news.com.au. “I try not to let it get to me and not let it get me down. But I do have my days where thoughts start creeping into my mind, because I’m they said I’m gonna be totally blind with this eye disease.”

“So I’ve just gotta try and make the most of every day, while I can see, because I’ve just got nine degrees of pinhole vision left, and I don’t have any peripheral vision or night vision.”

When Reggie was first diagnosed with RP, she was told she had only 15 years left before she would be completely blind.

However, this year marks almost 20 years since her initial diagnosis, so she has miraculously beaten the odds by five years, thanks to her participation in clinical trials to try and “slow down what eyesight I’ve got left”.

Reggie, seen here with Big Brother host Gretel Killeen, won over viewers across Australia.

“When I got diagnosed, they told me I had 15 years before I would be totally blind. I’s been 20 years now, so I’ve got five years on top of what they told me,” she said.

But with the wins come other setbacks, with her son Lucas diagnosed with cystic fibrosis. Now 12, Lucas was first diagnosed when he was just four weeks old, so he has lived with the condition for basically all of his life.

With her RP and Lucas’ diagnosis, Reggie says she was plunged into a “bad depression”.

“What I went through, for about two years, was just really horrible depression,” she tells us. “But I pulled myself out of it. Hopefully I’ll never go back down that path ever again. I just think, ‘OK, there’s always someone worse off in the world than me.’ I just have to try and stay positive. I just can’t let it get to me.”

Back in 2003, weeks after taking out the crown on Big Brother.

Reggie won $250,000 in prize money when winning Big Brother Australia 2022.

Determined to raise awareness about blindness, Reggie has now partnered with The Fred Hollows Foundation – a charity close to her heart – to be the ambassador for its annual Fred’s Big Run, a fitness initiative which kicks off next week on August 1.

Participants can register free online to take part in the virtual online fitness challenge to choose to run, walk, bike or swim their preferred distance of 50km, 100km or 150km to help raise much needed funds for those who are needlessly blind.

“The goal is to try and help as many people as possible not to deal and go through blindness,” Reggie says. “Fred’s work is bloody amazing – like, the removal of cataracts restores sight to people.”

“I’ve had two cataracts removed myself due to my retinitis pigmentosa. And it’s just amazing when they remove the cataracts, it’s like, ‘Oh my God, I can see.’ No more fog, you know? It’s like as if your eyes are being spray painted. That’s how I can describe having a cataract.”

Reggie with her son Lucas and daughter Mia celebrate her Big Brother win in 2022.

Of being the ambassador, Reggie says she’s “very humbled” as she likes to help wherever and however she can.

“This year I was helping people at the disability expo, and I was so proud to – it makes me happy when I can help people who are less fortunate and have disabilities,” she says.

“A lot of people look up to me and, and I don’t see myself as anything, but a lot of people do love talking to me and the more awareness I can raise about this, the better.”

However, some of Reggie’s critics are not focused on the good she’s doing for the vision impaired. Instead, they question whether she’s faking her condition.

“You’ve got people going, ‘She’s not blind, she’s fake.’ But I copped all that as well through my time on Big Brother last year. But if I could put anyone in my shoes for a day, I wish they would then understand how hard it is. I’ve just got to educate people.”

“I do feel like telling them to go and get stuffed, but I can’t,” she laughs.

The Fred Hollows Foundation’s Fred’s Big Run starts on August 1. Visit here to register.