What You Didn't Know About Isabella Strahan

You may not be familiar with Isabella Strahan's story, but chances are you certainly know her dad, NFL player turned ABC presenter Michael Strahan. Isabella and her twin sister, Sophia Strahan, were born on October 24, 2004, and their parents split shortly after. As Michael Strahan and their mom, Jean Muggli, went through a messy custody battle, the twins stuck by each other's side. Isabella and Sophia also have two half-siblings from Michael's marriage to his first wife, Wanda Hutchins.

While the Strahans have a pretty extensive family tree, Michael has managed to support all his kids, and he's often said how proud he is of them — and he's got reason to be. Before Isabella and Sophia landed spots at prestigious universities, the former also won a New York City History Day award in 2021 for a piece she wrote about the last American slave ship. Isabella and her sister went on to attend the University of Southern California and Duke University, respectively. Michael told Yahoo! Life that it was tough but exciting to see the twins leave home to pursue their dreams. "I cannot wait for them to go to [college], but it's actually a bittersweet thing," he said. "The bitter part is, of course, I'm gonna miss my kids when they're gone. But the sweet part is that they get a chance to grow and become adults."

Isabella's adult years kicked off with a bit of a wobble, and if you don't know much about the go-getter model-in-the-making, you're about to find out everything you need to know.

You might not know this about Michelle Obama, but she once granted an interview to a 10-year-old Isabella Strahan. She and her sister, Sophia Strahan, sat down with Obama on behalf of "Good Morning America" at the White House Kids' State Dinner in 2015. Their dad, Michael Strahan, tasked them with asking the first lady a few questions while they were there, and they didn't disappoint. 

Since the dinner was part of Obama's effort to educate kids about nutrition and making thoughtful food choices, Isabella and Sophia were encouraged to ask questions that were relevant to the initiative. And so, they chatted about what it means to use food to fuel up, what inspired the "Becoming" author to launch this annual event, and the importance of incorporating things like good produce into daily diets. 

Once that part of the interview was out of the way, Isabella and Sophia went rogue and asked Obama if she could please convince their dad to allow them to adopt a dog. Obama was all too happy to intercede on their behalf. "They're going to be responsible. And if they can do this interview, they can take care of a dog. Come on, Michael," Obama said to the twins' delight. The cherry on top? Obama also brought in both of her family's Portuguese Water Dogs. After the segment aired, their proud dad beamed as his co-anchors praised the girls' interviewing skills... but didn't say whether or not a pooch was in the family's future.

Isabella Strahan has grown up to be gorgeous, and thanks to her dad's fame, she is no stranger to the spotlight. She started making a name for herself before she finished high school when she landed a spot on the catwalk in 2022 for a Sherri Hill show. Her dad, Michael Strahan, shared the iconic moment on Instagram. "Very proud of you, @isabellastrahan, for crushing your first runway this weekend for @sherrihill!!!! As a parent, there is nothing like watching your child succeed at what they love with a smile on their face!" he captioned the post. 

This show kicked off the start of Isabella's modeling career, and in 2023, she stunned fans when she appeared in an ad campaign for Overtime's "Never Change a Winning Team" collection. Not long after, Isabella appeared in a Sephora campaign to promote the brand's new Love the Lift mascara. She shared some behind-the-scenes snaps to her Instagram account, calling the opportunity to work with the beauty brand "a dream job." Unfortunately, because she was shooting the campaign, Isabella missed her sister's graduation, which the latter jokingly pointed out in the comments of the post.

When Isabella Strahan started her first year at the University of Southern California in 2023, she had no idea of the challenges that awaited her. One month after beginning her new life as a college student, she started feeling unwell. "I didn't notice anything was off till probably like October 1," she shared on "Good Morning America." "That's when I definitely noticed headaches, nausea, couldn't walk straight."

Initially, she assumed her symptoms were related to vertigo. But after a few weeks went by, she realized something was very wrong. "I woke up, probably at like, 1 p.m. I dreaded waking up. But I was throwing up blood," Isabella recalled. This was when she got a real fright and messaged her sister to let her know something was wrong. What followed was a doctor's appointment, which led to extensive testing and a diagnosis of medulloblastoma, a type of brain cancer common in young children. Isabella's tumor was slightly bigger than a golf ball, and doctors reiterated that it was vital they remove it as soon as possible.

Isabella had surgery to remove the tumor, and what followed was a tough journey. She endured a lot of pain, went through radiation treatment, and Sophia Strahan helped her relearn how to walk.

Having brain surgery comes with a slew of complications, and Isabella Strahan missed her 19th birthday because of it. She had to undergo an emergency craniotomy, which left her unconscious during her birthday on October 28, 2023. Isabella later posted a vlog to her YouTube channel in which she celebrated her 19th birthday six months later. The vlog also included heartbreaking footage of her family decorating her hospital room with a "Happy Birthday" sign and balloons while she was unconscious.

Fortunately, Isabella made it through, and she and her sister, Sophia Strahan, were able to make up for the missed birthday by baking cupcakes with a friend. "We're doing a little birthday celebration because I was not conscious for my 19th birthday," Isabella shared with fans before she and her sister sang "Happy Birthday" to themselves and blew out the candles on their cupcakes.

While many women have some time before they have to start thinking about freezing their eggs, Isabella Strahan had to deliberate on the matter before she underwent radiation and chemotherapy for her brain cancer. In one of her YouTube videos, Strahan explained that these treatments could affect her fertility and that she was advised to freeze her eggs beforehand. She was very candid about the process, telling viewers that it was tremendously unpleasant because of all the injections she had to get beforehand. "I'm not a big needle person, so this whole experience was bad," she admitted, noting that getting so many shots was "rough." She shared that she had to get three injections in her stomach every day for over a week. "[It] hurt so bad," she recalled.

When doctors retrieved her eggs, Strahan was put under anesthesia so she didn't experience any discomfort. After sleeping it off at home, she was treated to a big Thanksgiving dinner with her family. The following Monday, she started radiation therapy and soon started losing her hair.

In a May 21, 2024, YouTube video, Isabella Strahan shared that she was dealing with blips in her memory. About halfway through the video, she told viewers that she didn't remember ordering the sandwich that had just arrived. The next day, Isabella shared in another vlog that she was still experiencing memory issues. "I don't remember Tuesday, 'cause I'm given this drug to protect my hearing and just because I have a reaction to it, they give me Ativan. ... I can't remember a single thing about that day," she said. Isabella went on to note that she probably seemed "a little loopy" in the previous video because of the drugs she'd been prescribed. 

She also opened up about how she was a little scared of what life might be like after her chemotherapy treatments end, saying that she experienced a mixture of nervousness and excitement. "How am I going to go back to normal life? Because I feel like there's always going to be another treatment or something I have to do," Isabella said.

On June 8, 2024, that next chapter officially began: Isabella shared on TikTok that she'd completed her chemotherapy treatment. In the clip, she and Sophia Strahan dance around to "Let 'Em Know" by Bryson Tiller. Fittingly, Isabella donned a gold crown in the video.

Michael Strahan's daughter isn't one to sugarcoat things. In a YouTube video that went up in March 2024, Isabella Strahan kept it candid while breaking down the side effects she was experiencing from her cancer treatment. "I barely can't walk without feeling lightheaded or out of breath," she shared in her vlog. Isabella did note that at that moment, she wasn't experiencing significant tooth pain or head pain like she had before — but she certainly wasn't out of the woods. "At least when I wanted to cut off my head I could take pain medicine. Now I can't take anti-exhaustion medicine," she said.

In a February 16, 2024 vlog, Isabella told fans that she was having some anxiety over all the side effects of her cancer treatment. She shared that her head was hurting and showed off the ice pack she was using to ease the pain. "I feel like I'm having a heart attack... everything hurts," she said. Isabella shared that, when she focused on a specific discomfort, like the pain in her chest, it felt like it was getting worse. "It just stresses me out because so much could go wrong... Like, 'oh no, my heart hurts, that could mean I'm having a heart attack' or 'my eyes [are] strained, what if my eyes stop working?' Or what if my teeth just rot and fall out?" she said.

Like many people who undergo cancer treatment, Isabella Strahan experienced hair loss. In one of her vlogs, she shared that the hair loss started pretty quickly after she began radiation therapy. She explained how her hair started thinning dramatically and that it upset her to see herself like that. "I couldn't even look at myself because it was worse than probably not having hair," Isabella said, adding that she'd always been proud of her hair. But after about two weeks of radiation therapy had passed, she couldn't stand her thinning hair anymore and impulsively decided to shave it all off in the middle of the night — but she called her sister first. "It was 4:00 a.m. — this was like, midlife crisis," Isabella joked.

She's embraced her new look with open arms. With Sophia Strahan's help, Isabella made a TikTok video to have a little fun with her new 'do. In the video, Sophia lip syncs along with a snippet from the animated series "Monster High." As she snatches a wig off of her sister's head, Sophia pretends to say, "Oh my gosh! She's bald! She's bald and she's torturing people who have hair!" In another TikTok, Isabella joked that she had an expensive brain in a wry reference to her medical bills.

Shortly before she was set to finish her last rounds of chemotherapy, Isabella Strahan developed a high fever, which meant that she had to go to the hospital ASAP. Once there, doctors put her on an IV, which she didn't particularly appreciate. In her vlog, she told fans that she'd been without an IV for so long at that point that it felt like a massive setback.

After running some tests, doctors determined that Strahan needed a third craniotomy, but first they had to drain fluid from her brain — however, they could not use anesthesia. "So they had a little procedure. I had this done before... it's where they stick a needle in three spots and drain fluid, and I was completely awake for this. So, my first completely awake surgery," Strahan explained in her vlog.

Following her third craniotomy, Strahan vlogged her recovery, telling fans that she was experiencing intense pain and that the pain medication wasn't working as well for her as it should. "I'm in a lot of pain," she said, before bursting into tears. "Not going to lie, I've been crying a lot," she said later in the vlog when she updated fans on her progress. She added that she was still grateful that she wasn't in as much pain as she'd been the last time she had a craniotomy.

Thanks to spending plenty of time with her mother on a farm in Wilmington, North Carolina, during her childhood years, Isabella Strahan became quite the accomplished equestrian. She and her sister, Sophia Strahan, took part in competitions and can boast with a couple of blue ribbons. They used to do barrel racing and pole bending, among other things. Isabella even got to show off her horsemanship when she featured in an advertisement for wedding videographer Weddings by Tiberious in 2023.

Amid her cancer diagnosis and treatment, Isabella took up horse riding again. After finishing radiation therapy, she started to brace herself for the chemotherapy that was lying ahead, and while taking a breather with her family in between treatments she tried to return to a sense of normalcy. In a vlog from February 2024, Isabella showed clips of her singing karaoke and taking her horse for a much-needed ride.

When Isabella's mother, Jean Muggli, spoke to The Carolinas Equestrian in 2019, she explained how the barn and the horses had always been the heart of the farm. "We made it a comfortable place to spend our time and enjoy our horses. Whenever we throw parties, they always happen at the barn," she said. That doesn't appear to have changed over the years, and now the horses have become a vital part of Isabella's healing journey.

When Isabella Strahan was diagnosed with brain cancer in October 2023, she and her family kept her diagnosis quiet at first. Isabella only opened up about her health journey in January 2024 when she made an appearance on "Good Morning America" with her dad, Michael Strahan. During the interview, Isabella said that she wanted to keep her journey private but eventually decided that sharing her story might help others. "It's been like, two months of keeping it quiet, which is definitely difficult," she admitted during the interview. "I don't wanna hide it anymore 'cause it's hard to always keep in. I hope to just kind of be a voice, and be [someone] who people, maybe [those who] are going through chemotherapy or radiation, can look at."

In an effort to offer some hope to those going through their own cancer journey, Isabella partnered with Duke University to start a YouTube series documenting her journey. She's been regularly vlogging her road to recovery, and avid viewers will know that she hasn't been sugarcoating her experience. She's been raw and honest about the pain and difficulties of cancer treatment, but at the same time, her ability to stay positive is inspiring. Her YouTube series, which has garnered a massive following, encourages viewers to donate to the Preston Robert Tisch Brain Tumor Center at Duke University as well as Duke Children's.