Drew Scott woke up with a sore knee and had no idea what had caused it. That moment of confusion marked the beginning of a health scare that rattled the Scott family at the height of their television fame. To millions of viewers, Drew Scott was the charismatic half of Property Brothers, the HGTV star who helped families find fixer-uppers while his twin brother Jonathan transformed them. But behind the cameras and the polished on-screen chemistry, the Scott family was quietly dealing with a medical emergency that had nothing to do with renovations.
The brothers grew up in Vancouver, Canada, where they were born on April 28, 1978. Their parents, Jim and Joanne Scott, ran a household built on tough love and encouragement, a mix that Drew later credited for his relentless work ethic. Jim had worked as a stuntman and actor in Hollywood before shifting to ranching, and his stories planted early creative ambitions in his sons. By age eight, the twins had launched their first business, making decorative coat hangers and selling them door to door.
Drew later recalled in interviews that he and Jonathan were always told they could pursue whatever they wanted, as long as they were doing something productive. Sitting around playing video games was not an option. As a teenager, Drew’s ambitions were athletic rather than entrepreneurial. He was the sports-focused twin, tall and competitive, and he poured himself into basketball with dreams of playing professionally.
But a series of injuries ended those hopes abruptly, leaving him without the identity he had been building. He pivoted to acting, a field his father had introduced him to through stories of Hollywood. Drew landed small roles on shows like Breaker High and Madison, and worked as a body double for Tom Welling on Smallville. The roles were modest, but they gave him firsthand exposure to the discipline and unpredictability of the entertainment industry.
The real breakthrough arrived in the early 2010s with Property Brothers. The show turned Drew and Jonathan into global household names, airing in more than 150 countries and spinning off into series like Brother vs. Brother and Property Brothers: Forever Home. The twins were not just hosts but executive producers, running their media company, Scott Brothers Entertainment, while managing a growing slate of productions.
From the outside, Drew appeared to have everything, fame, fortune, creative control, and a devoted fan base. The truth, which surfaced publicly in 2019, was that the family was in the middle of a serious medical crisis involving their older brother, JD Scott. JD, who lived in a different city from Drew at the time, woke up one morning with severe knee pain and no explanation for it. For months, he suffered from unexplained symptoms, including weakness, sensitivity to heat, and long stretches of being bedridden.
After an extended search for answers, doctors diagnosed him with acute mercury poisoning, with dangerously high mercury levels in his body. Drew and Jonathan spoke publicly about how the family rallied around JD, with Drew telling Hollywood Life that their family was very close and always there to support one another. The experience served as a reminder that even the most public figures face their hardest battles privately. Amid those health struggles, Drew was also building a personal life that would reshape his priorities.
In 2010, he met Linda Phan at a charity event in Los Angeles. What started as a casual conversation became a lasting relationship, and the couple married in 2018. The most transformative chapter came in 2022, when Drew and Linda welcomed their first child, Parker James Scott. In interviews, Drew described how fatherhood unlocked a side of him he did not know existed, saying his deep love for Linda suddenly felt shallow compared to the new depth of their shared love for their son.
Fatherhood changed how Drew approached work. He continued expanding the Property Brothers brand with new shows like Backed by the Bros and Don’t Hate Your House, but he focused more on balance than on constant production. He also used his platform to advocate for sustainable home design and family-first renovation approaches. Drew Scott’s path from athletic injury to television stardom, through a family health crisis and into fatherhood, is a reminder that public success does not shield anyone from private hardship.
The injuries that ended his basketball dreams redirected him toward a career he could never have planned, and the health scare that hit his family reinforced what mattered most to him.
