Deadliest Catch Captain Sig Hansen has revealed how he and his wife are doing after they suffered health problems years ago.
As viewers know, the famed crab fisherman has cheated death twice. Sig went through a heart attack in March 2016, which was shown on his hit Discovery Channel reality show. In October 2018, Sig had a second heart attack resulting from a severe allergic reaction to an antibiotic. Then, in 2019, Sig’s beloved wife June Hansen was reportedly diagnosed with cancer.
But in an exclusive interview with Parade to promote Season 21 of Deadliest Catch, Sig assured fans that both he and his wife are doing great and taking care of themselves.
“Doctors tell me my heart’s 20 percent stronger. That’s good to hear,” Sig said just days after his TV show’s Aug. 1 premiere. “As far as smoking, I’ve quit and then [gone] back to it and on and off. Like an idiot, is the only word I can use. I despise cigarettes, but [they are] very addicting.”
The 59-year-old Alaskan king crab fisherman said of his regimen these days, “We eat healthy. My wife and I go for walks and do those kind of things. [We are] very active, or try to be. I just look at it like, there’s only so much you can do. I don’t dwell on it too much because I feel like there are so many other things that I do to stay active. I’m always busy, and for me, that’s healthy.”
Sig spoke with Parade by phone from Norway, where he and his family both own other homes and a fledgling events center. His Norwegian island building will host concerts, weddings, and other functions. “That’s how I stay healthy, try different things,” Sig said. “This business is on land, not on the ocean. For me, it’s about the chase, the challenge. That’s what drives me.”
For Deadliest Catch season 21, Sig and fellow Captain Johnathan Hillstrand teamed up to fish together on Hillstrand’s Time Bandit vessel. Fans will see more of their dramatic interactions on this Friday’s second episode.
Sig hopes he can be a role model to Johnathan, 63, who smokes cigarettes on the boat. He told Parade, “I notice that he’s suffering a little from it and he knows it as well. I can’t speak too personally on that. But I think [Johnathan] needs to know that he’s gotta put them [cigarettes] down at some point, because you can tell it was affecting him and it bothered me. It really did. It’s worrisome.”
But as far as his wife’s health, it’s been smooth sailing, Sig confided.
“She’s solvent. She did have potential cancer, but we got through that. So she’s very cautious of her health and she’s working out every day,” he said. “We have a swimming pool at home. So when we’re home, she’s swimming. But it is Seattle, so [swimming] when it’s not raining. I try to keep up with her. She’d beat me every time!”
Thinking about their long and happy marriage, Sig said of June, “She comes from a fishing family herself, generations of fishermen, and so do I. I believe we’re a great fit. She’s tougher than she looks, and she is very supportive. But at the end of the day, I want to spend more time with her. I feel like she’s given so much to me. When you go to sea, when I was younger, we were gone for oh, my God, sometimes six months at a stretch, sometimes eight to ten months out of a year. And so it’s time to pay back. Maybe that’s just old age, I don’t know. But I feel like I owe her so much and I don’t know how to repay her.”
He laughed, “I should be on a beach in Hawaii with my wife right now! We’ll get to it.”
While Sig is trying his best to avoid yet another health scare, he acknowledges the dangers that come every time he hits the sea. “The only thing that irritates me or scares me is your mortality. And that if something happens out there, God forbid, it’s not like you can drive to a hospital. It festers at the back of your mind and becomes more of a reality when you get older. So that bothers me. I do get more fearful going to sea every time, when you stack on those crab pots that weigh 800 or 900 pounds apiece, that’s where your boat is very sensitive to the weather. It scares me.”
Still, fans shouldn’t worry about stalwart Sig giving up Deadliest Catch anytime soon! According to the trusty captain, “We got a few more years to go, I would think.”
