‘Facts of Life’ Star Geri Jewell Talks Health Updates & Admits She Has the ‘Neck of a 12-Year-Old’

Geri Jewell now and then collage — Everett Collection; Tommaso Boddi/Getty Images for Media Access Awards

Geri Jewell is best known for playing Blair’s cousin Geri on The Facts of Life and helping people understand those with cerebral palsy. She was born three months early after her mother got into a car accident while pregnant with her and was diagnosed with cerebral palsy at eighteen months old. She never let it stop her and raised visibility for people with cerebral palsy on the ’80s sitcom. Geri is now 68 years old and while she has dealt with her fair share of health issues, she said that she manages them by keeping a good “sense of humor.”

Jewell recently appeared on Steve Kmetko’s Still Here Hollywood podcast on Monday, March 24 and admitted, “It’s challenging because now I have other issues with aging. Walking isn’t as easy as it used to be. I’ve had a certain gait, but my balance is not near as good. My hearing is impaired even more, and I get very, very frustrated.” In addition to health issues related to cerebral palsy, she broke her neck in 1999.

Jim Britt/ TV Guide/Everett Collection

She continued, “My neck is now 45% titanium, and it’s pretty strong. But this cerebral palsy still wants to move my head all over the place and my neck is going, ‘No. I can’t do that.’” Keeping up with her sense of humor, she shared that because of her chronic pain she gets Botox injected into her neck and shoulders every three months and because of it she “has the neck of a 12-year-old.”

Although one can argue that Jewell has been dealt more challenges than most, she is still grateful for her life. She added, “I’m very blessed. All the challenges that I’ve had — that everybody has in life — It’s a sense of humor that’s gonna get us through it. Because, if I couldn’t laugh once a while, I’d be in a loony bin. I have to laugh. You have to.”