Carrie Ann Inaba says she 'felt a lot of shame' while privately suffering from autoimmune diseases

Carrie Ann Inaba is a regular on-screen personality known best for her role as a judge on Dancing With The Stars and her stint as a co-host on The Talk. But while she's a pro when it comes to putting a big smile on for the camera, she's opening up about the pain that she's suffered behind the cameras.

The 54-year-old host and dancer tells Yahoo Life that she's long "defined myself through physical wellness," as a result of her lifelong dance practice. "I was an athlete, I could move, I was fit. I was all of these things." When she began to feel physical and chronic pain while judging her fourth season of DWTS, however, she felt in conflict with her identity.

Today, Inaba is outspoken about living with numerous autoimmune diseases including lupus, fibromyalgia and Sjogren's syndrome — the source of her painful symptoms — and accepts them as a part of her wellness journey. Just years ago, she was suffering in silence.

"I started experiencing all these symptoms. Symptoms that people couldn't see and wouldn't believe because I would show up on camera with full hair and makeup and look presentable. And that became very, very difficult to live that way," she says. "I felt a lot of shame, you know, when you're presenting one thing but there's another reality. And I had to surrender up the idea that I was a fit dancer, and that was my identity."

Video Transcript

CARRIE ANN INABA: When you look at your body as this miraculous thing that you get to live with, and you work in collaboration with your body, and you learn to listen to it, life becomes just magical.

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KERRY JUSTICH: Today, I'm chatting with Carrie Ann Inaba, who you likely know best from her work on "Dancing With the Stars," all about how she takes care of her body while living with autoimmune disease. If you are thinking about your relationship with your body today, how would you describe it?

CARRIE ANN INABA: When I think about my body and my journey with my body today, after living for many years with lupus and fibromyalgia and Sjogren's syndrome, which was the first diagnosis, and chronic pain, and then most recently, believe it or not, I am dealing with Lyme disease-- and I'm actually undergoing treatments right now to eradicate the Lyme disease in my body-- and believe it or not, I love my body so much, and I'm so grateful.

This journey to wellness has made me appreciate my body so much. Because it's this miraculous organism that is-- it thrives, and it reaches for solutions, and it's happy to heal. My body has always been central to my life because since I was four years old, I was a dancer. When I started to have chronic pain, I stopped moving as much. As I stopped moving, I got sicker and sicker. The one thing that I definitely am so grateful for dance is making me understand that movement is one of the keys to living a healthy life.

KERRY JUSTICH: When you started, you know, getting these diagnoses and really checking into your health and what that meant, how did your understanding of what health is change?

CARRIE ANN INABA: When I started first having symptoms on "Dancing With the Stars," it was a very confusing time because I had defined myself, through my physical wellness, as a dancer. I was an athlete. I could move. I was fit. I was all of these things. And then when that was taken away from me through all of these conditions that I developed, and I started experiencing all these symptoms, symptoms that people couldn't see and wouldn't believe because I would show up on camera with full hair and makeup and look presentable, that became very, very difficult to live that way.

I felt a lot of shame. You know, when you're presenting one thing, but there's another reality. And I had to surrender up the idea that I was a fit dancer, and that was my identity. After leaving "The Talk," I really took some time to focus on my health and understand what it meant. I could have framed it in a way in my mind as a memory of my body disappointed me. But my body didn't disappoint me. My body actually woke me up.

I think what I was doing before that, and what a lot of people do, is I was putting Band-Aids over things. I was managing symptoms. I wasn't seeking health. When you think about your body, the biggest lesson that I learned is it has to be a very mindful practice. You have to almost be like a scientist for yourself and always being curious about what works for your body and what doesn't. And when something doesn't work for your body, notice it and change. It makes you take responsibility in a way that was difficult.

KERRY JUSTICH: When somebody receives a diagnosis, when somebody realizes that they're experiencing chronic pain, and those moments can be distressing, what would you tell yourself about where you are now or how it gets better?

CARRIE ANN INABA: I started "Carrie Ann Conversations" a few years ago when I was at the height of my autoimmune situation. One of the biggest things for people who have autoimmune conditions are that you feel like you're going crazy because nobody believes you. The doctors have a hard time diagnosing you. It's quite a lonely journey. You need a community to know, hey, is somebody else is going through this? And so I said, oh, I want to share what I'm doing so I can help people.

I'm more well now than I've been in my life, even maybe when I was in my 20s. I'm so much more conscious now of what it takes to maintain wellness. It's a daily practice, every day. I have to work on me because this is the gift.