Ty Pennington never expected to find himself living with his mother again in his 60s, but the HGTV star says life has taken him somewhere he never anticipated.
Pennington, 61, has revealed that he is now spending part of his time living with and caring for his mother, Yvonne, as she continues managing bronchiectasis, a chronic lung condition she was diagnosed with nearly two decades ago.
“Now I’m a caretaker, so I live with her part-time and sort of look after her,” Pennington told PEOPLE. “I never thought I’d be living with my mom again, but this is what happens in life.”
For the longtime television personality, best known for transforming homes on shows including Trading Spaces, Extreme Makeover: Home Edition and HGTV’s Rock the Block, the new responsibility has shifted his focus from fixing houses to helping someone much closer to home.
Pennington normally lives in Savannah, Georgia, with his wife, Kellee Merrell, in a historic home the couple renovated together.
His mother, however, lives in Florida in a house Pennington said he built there.
The arrangement means the television star now travels regularly between Georgia and Florida so he can help care for her.
“That’s why Savannah was sort of a good spot for me, because it’s about a two-hour drive so I can be there a lot more,” he explained.
Despite the unusual living arrangement, Pennington said being there for his mother has become a priority.
Seeing someone he loves deal with a serious health problem, he said, “just makes you want to do what you can to honor them for being as amazing as they are.”
His Mother Struggled for Years Before Getting Answers
Bronchiectasis is a chronic condition in which the airways of the lungs become permanently damaged and widened, making it more difficult to clear mucus.
That mucus buildup can contribute to persistent coughing and repeated respiratory infections. Other symptoms can include shortness of breath, wheezing, fatigue and sometimes coughing up blood.
The American Lung Association estimates that bronchiectasis affects hundreds of thousands of American adults, with the risk increasing with age.
There is currently no cure, but treatments can help manage symptoms, clear mucus and reduce infections and flare-ups.
For Pennington’s family, one of the most difficult parts was figuring out what was wrong in the first place.
He said his mother had experienced problems for years before doctors finally determined she had bronchiectasis.
Looking back, Pennington admits that created some guilt for the family.
“I think it gave us all a little bit of guilt, like we weren’t able to figure it out and it took somebody else [to understand] what it was,” he said.
Persistent symptoms can sometimes be dismissed as someone simply being prone to getting sick, he added.
“You just pass it off as, ‘Oh, maybe they’re just always sick.’”
Bronchiectasis can sometimes resemble other respiratory problems because symptoms such as chronic coughing, excess mucus and recurring infections overlap with conditions including asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.
Doctors investigating suspected bronchiectasis may use chest imaging, including CT scans, along with lung-function tests, blood work and mucus cultures depending on the patient’s symptoms and medical history.
Pennington Says His Mom Is Still Making Everyone Laugh
Despite everything his mother has faced, Pennington said the situation is not defined entirely by illness.
He described his mother as the person who is almost always able to make everyone around her laugh.
“The good news is now we understand, we know what she’s dealing with,” he said. “And the great news is we’re having fun. She’s laughing. She’s still the funniest person in the room.”
For Pennington, finally knowing what was behind his mother’s years of respiratory problems has given the family something they lacked before — an explanation.
“But we do understand what she’s dealing with and we can really help her situation because of that,” he said.
Why Pennington Is Speaking Publicly
Pennington is now sharing his family’s experience as part of a partnership with pharmaceutical company Insmed and its Suspect Bronchiectasis, or Suspect BE, awareness initiative.
Insmed launched its collaboration with Pennington in May 2026 as an educational campaign aimed at encouraging people with persistent respiratory problems to discuss their symptoms with health professionals.
Pennington said his mother’s long road to a diagnosis convinced him that other families could be experiencing the same uncertainty.
“I think there’s a lot of other families who just need that clarity and need to understand what they’re dealing with,” he said.
He hopes people experiencing ongoing respiratory symptoms will speak with a health care provider or pulmonologist rather than simply assuming frequent coughing or infections are normal.
Pennington has even found a way to explain his message using the profession that made him famous.
When renovating an old house, he said, a contractor would never simply cover up evidence of a deeper problem and assume everything was fine.
“When we’re renovating a house, we look at if there’s a problem — we don’t just paint over it,” Pennington said. “We look behind the drywall, we check the foundation.”
He believes people should approach unexplained health problems with the same mentality.
“When it comes to lung health, I think it’s the same thing,” he said. “Sometimes you can’t just sort of mask over things. You’ve got to take a deeper look and find out what’s really going on.”
And although returning to life under the same roof as his mother certainly was not something Pennington envisioned at 61, he appears to be embracing the unexpected chapter.
After years of building dream homes for other families on television, Pennington’s attention these days is increasingly centered on his own family — and making sure his mom has someone nearby when she needs him.
