Contents
Katherine Kelly Lang is an American actress, particularly known for her nearly four decade long appearance as Brooke Logan in the CBS soap opera “The Bold And The Beautiful”, which earned her numerous Golden Boomerang awards, and a Daytime Emmy nomination for Best Soap Actress.
With a splendid career as an actress, which spans from the late ‘70s to the present day, Katherine has certainly made her mark as a seasoned actress in Hollywood. Although Lang might not be an A-list celebrity, she nonetheless became a familiar face in many households, both domestically in the US, as well as abroad.
In fact, Lang’s fame has spread so far that she earned a guest role in the South-African soap opera “Isidingo” in 2018, making a single episode appearance as herself, though her interest in the Southern Hemisphere also extended as far as Australia. Lang made a couple of appearances on local Australian shows, including in the reality survival series “I’m A Celebrity…Get Me Out Of Here!”.
During her time in Australia, surviving the tough jungle while competing in the show, Lang suffered a few health scares, partly due to her participation. Though only a minor concern, Katherine shortly thereafter injured herself during a horse-riding accident, the injuries serious enough to require surgery on her ankle, and although the outcome seemed fine, fans and followers have been anxious to find an update on Lang’s health.
As such, it’s our priority to look in on the celebrated actress, hoping to find out how Katherine is currently doing, and if she’s recovered from her injury while providing greater insight into Lang’s recent health drama.
What To Expect
As we look in on Katherine, we will briefly detail her long and illustrious career as an actress, beginning with her early life and career, before discussing all of her highlighted attainments and good fortunes over the many years of Katherine’s career.
Following this, we’ll close the article by taking a detailed look at the several health scares Lang’s experienced, dating from 2019 when she appeared on “I’m A Celebrity…” , as well as her later accident and subsequent injury. Finally, we’ll see how she is doing today, and if she plans to continue with her role as Brooke Logan for many more years.
The Brave and The Prestigious
Born on 25 July 1961, in Hollywood, California as Katherine Kelly Wegeman, the daughter of American Olympic Ski Jumper, Keith R. Wegeman, and actress Judith Lang, Katherine would later adopt her mother’s family name as an acting alias. She is also the granddaughter of the esteemed cinematographer, Charles Lang, who earned an Oscar for his work.
Though little is known about her earliest life, it’s known that Lang attended Beverly Hills High School before starting her acting career in 1979, making her debut appearance in the film “Skatetown U.S.A.”, which also starred the late actor Patrick Swayze.
During the first couple of years following her debut in the filming industry, Katherine kept herself busy with several appearances in television shows, as it would be a while before Lang earned her big breakthrough. Most of the roles she earned around this time were guest appearances, which included credits such as “Magnum P.I.”, “Happy Days”, and “The Fall Guy”. Obviously, despite coming from a rather prestigious family, Katherine didn’t have it as easy while trying to pursue an acting career. Of course, her grandfather and mother would supply both support and insight into the filming industry, as they also inspired Lang’s interest in screen acting.
Throughout the mid-‘80s, Katherine starred in several music video productions, which included The Beach Boys’ “Getcha Back” and “It’s Getting Late”, as well as Alabama’s “There’s No Way”. At the time, Katherine was a relatively unknown actress, with only a few credits on her portfolio, until 1987 when she earned an invitation to audition for a part in “The Bold And The Beautiful”.
Since then, Katherine has become an important member of the popular soap opera’s cast, as she would play the part of Brooke Logan for the following forty years. Today, Katherine, and her co-star John McCook, who plays Eric Forrester, are the only remaining members of the original cast still making appearances.
Aside from the good fortune of landing an iconic, recurring part, Lang still continued further pursuits as an actress, ewith an appearance in the ‘96 television film “Subliminal Seduction”, and in 1999, she made a cross-over appearance as Brooke on the soap opera “The Young and The Restless”.
However, it wasn’t Lang’s first appearance in “The Young and The Restless”, as she previously portrayed the part of Gretchen in 1981, shortly before earning her iconic place in “The Bold and The Beautiful”.
By July 2007, Katherine had achieved notable success as a soap opera actress, having earned seven Soap Opera Digest Award nominations, as well as a Daytime Emmy nomination. Of course, Lang earned no less than five TV Soap Boomerang Awards, but despite becoming a notable actress, Katherine didn’t seem quite satisfied with her success, as she continued to pursue other ventures beyond the soap acting for which she became known and popular.
Following her success between 1987 through 2007, Lang made a guest appearance in “Neighbours” in 2016, before deciding to broaden her horizons by touring the Southern Hemisphere, and competing in a series of reality game shows.
In 2016, Katherine made a celebrity guest appearance on “Have You Been Paying Attention?”, and in 2019, Lang competed on the Australian game show “I’m A Celebrity…Get Me Out Of Here!”.
Some of Katherine’s latest projects, other than returning for her role in “The Bold And The Beautiful”, include a guest appearance in “8 Words”, and the 2021 television film “A Christmas Dance”, in which she portrayed the role of Mary.
Surviving The Jungle
“I’m A Celebrity…Get Me Out Of Here”, is originally a British reality television series, which resulted in an Australian spin-off, that takes a group of well-known celebrities to rugged, often jungle terrain, where they have to survive and compete to be crowned Queen or King.
In 2019, Katherine competed on the Australian version of the show, but unfortunately was eliminated from the competition, though not before having a wild adventure on camera.
While curiously entertaining to watch celebrities toughen out the worst conditions, and on top of that compete in an endurance challenge, the show nonetheless holds health dangers for the participants, as Katherine would personally learn, and possibly part of the reason why the show is hosted by a doctor, namely Dr. Chris Brown.
During her elimination, Lang struggled to control her emotions, insisting that she got this far and could probably have kept going. Lang also stated that she was a little disappointed, admitting she should have done better. Naturally, Dr Brown was his encouraging self, assuring Katherine that she provided the show with plenty of sunlight and uplifting joy while it lasted.
However, it seemed that Katherine’s disappointment in the show was partially blamed on her failing health. As Lang would later admit during interviews following the show’s airing, she suffered from a quick onset of weakness while participating. Possibly caused by a reduced diet, the soap opera actress was put through several tough experiences, as she was forced to face her fears.
Katherine explained that she continued to lose weight as the competition went on, dropping weight at an alarming average of a pound a day. Over the full course of her participation, Lang lost 45lbs, an estimated 20kgs.
Fortunately, there was nothing specifically wrong with Lang, as her condition simply worsened due to the stress of the show, and the difficulties of surviving in a wild jungle. Nonetheless, Lang said that she learned plenty from the experience, such as not taking a luxurious and comfortable life for granted again.
Following her experience in “I’m A Celebrity…”, Lang stated on her social media profiles that she wants to pursue a healthier lifestyle henceforth, as her experience in the jungle, and her slight health scare, raised much-needed awareness about how conscious she is about her well-being.
Katherine’s Health Misfortunes
On 10 May 2022, it was reported that Katherine suffered a severe ankle injury while out enjoying horseback riding with friends and family, as she was preparing for a horse-riding marathon.
The soap opera actress revealed all the details about the accident to her followers on social media, sharing the story through a series of Instagram uploads. According to Lang’s account of the event, she was intent on riding a distance of forty miles, as part of her preparation for the 50-mile marathon.
Once she reached the 16-mile mark on her journey, Lang dismounted her horse on a rocky path at a downward slope, hoping to give her horse some needed rest while guiding it across the slightly treacherous terrain. Unfortunately, Lang slipped on loose rocks, subsequently taking a nasty fall, seriously injuring her ankle.
As Katherine explained – with accompanying photos – she dislocated her ankle at a 90-degree angle and had to pop it back in, despite the pain and shock. Paramedics soon arrived on the scene, and transported Katherine to the nearest hospital. At the time, Lang had already turned 60, and is a proud grandmother to Zuma, her first grandchild.
Once she arrived at the hospital, Lang underwent x-ray imaging, which revealed three broken bones in her ankle. She was then quickly prepared for emergency surgery, as doctors worked to cast her foot. Lang added on her social media account of the event that she received metal pins and screws to aid her foot in the healing process.
Along with the accompanying explanation, Lang also shared several photos of the event, which included a few pictures of her journey, as well as pictures of how things unfolded following her accident. One of the photos, taken after surgery, showed Katherine’s foot in a cast, with the caption reading ‘no load bearing on this foot for six weeks’.
Despite the ordeal, which happened on Mother’s Day, Lang remained positive, stating that she will try to be back at work as soon as she is capable. Of course, her co-stars and colleagues all gave their support in the comments section, wishing Katherine a speedy recovery.
Conclusion
Although Lang kept her fans and followers informed on social media about her recovery, the star neglected to post a follow-up story, if perhaps only to reassure her followers that she’s fine. Regardless, as things appear, Katherine made a full recovery without any known problems.
In fact, as Lang promised, she was soon back at work, hardly allowing herself any time away from the cameras, returning for her usual part as Brooke Logan. As it seems, Katherine Kelly Lang is not quite ready for retirement yet, as not even a health scare or unfortunate accident is going to keep her off the small screen..
