Angela Bassett is known for her many acting roles, ranging from Waiting To Exhale, to What’s Love Got To Do With It, and more recently, her upcoming role on Netflix’s hit Marvel series, Black Panther.

Another thing she’s known for is her incredible physique at 58 years old. While we all appreciate her figure, her obvious love for the gym isn’t only motivated by her desire to maintain her bangin’ coke bottle shape. Her physique is also the result of her extreme dedication toward living a healthy lifestyle, which she’s partly learned from the health issues that claimed her beloved Mother’s life.

Bassett’s mother, Betty Jane, sadly passed away in 2014 from heart disease caused by Type 2 diabetes. Now Angela is doing everything in her power to help others avoid the same fate.

Angela Bassett On Her Mother’s Health

Via Essence: “She had heart disease, high blood pressure, and complications with that. Each exacerbated the other. Sometimes just trying to grab ahold of all these different issues simultaneously was hard. Listening to your doctors and taking that advice and doing it is vital.”

“She had a very, very strong constitution, so I know that if she was able to get that under control she’d be sitting beside me today.”

Bassett On What We Should Do To Avoid Heart Disease & Diabetes

“In general we know that moving, and being mindful of things that we put in our body [is important]. Whether it’s processed, or heavily laden with preservatives or sugar. In our community we talk about having ‘a little sugar’. It sounds like a cute thing but we know it’s not. I think we should call it for what it is: diabetes, heart disease, and stroke. Heart disease is the number one killer of those with type 2 diabetes.” -Angela Bassett, via Essence

Bassett And Her Uncle Have A Message Us

Angela has teamed up with the For Your Sweetheart Foundation to help educate others on heart disease and diabetes. Check out the video she did with her uncle, who was also diagnosed with the disease after her Mother died…

We’re saddened that Angela Bassett lost her Mother from a disease that affects far too many Americans. There are currently 29 million people living in the U.S. who are inflicted with Type 2 diabetes. So seeing Mrs. Bassett use her heartbreak and her celebrity to do her part in educating all of us on this issue, is very admirable. Much respect to her for doing so.

ILOSM fam,’ as proud Old Schoolers, none of us are getting any younger, so let’s also try to do our part to take care of ourselves and help our fellow Old Schoolers do the same.