During the decades he spent in the political arena, Bill Clinton wrote his name in history for myriad reasons. From leading the longest economic expansion in non-war times to successfully merging center-left and center-right policies, the 42nd president of the United States left a widely regarded effective legacy. However, he was also the protagonist of one of the biggest scandals that rocked the White House. Nowadays, though, the retired politician more often makes headlines for his deteriorating health.

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During a June outing with Hillary Clinton, Bill raised concerns after he struggled on his feet. “Bill can hardly walk,” conservative social media figure Buzz Patterson noted alongside a video shared on X. Bill, who’s in his late 70s, seemed rather stiff on his legs, something that was made even more noticeable against Hillary’s agility. The former secretary of state is only a year younger than her husband.

Bill has admittedly not always been the best at maintaining a healthy lifestyle. “The good news is, my husband loves to eat and enjoys it,” Hillary told The New York Times shortly after Bill was elected president in 1992. “The bad news is, he loves to eat, even when things are not always right for him.” He was forced to address his choices in his 50s when he started experiencing serious heart problems. That wasn’t his only health scare around that time, but it was the toughest. From then on, he adopted a healthier diet. But issues continued to arise as he aged.

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Bill Clinton’s first major health scare came right as he was finishing his second term in office. In January 2001, he discovered he had a cancerous skin lesion. The outgoing president was diagnosed with basal cell carcinoma, the most common form of skin cancer, and one generally caused by sun exposure. “The lesion was removed, so while the president, it can be said, had skin cancer, that has been removed and he no longer has it,” the then-chief White House spokesman, Jake Siewert, told The Guardian.

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Basal cell carcinoma rarely spreads and doctors were confident they had removed all of Clinton’s cancerous cells. “Pathologists noted that the margin of the lesion appeared clean, which indicates that the lesion had been totally removed,” Siewert added. During the biopsy, Clinton opted to have the area around the lesion treated via scraping and burning preemptively in case it turned out to be cancerous. The lesion had been flagged the previous week, as Clinton underwent his last physical exam as president.

“The president had a small black spot on his back. It looked … very suspicious for basal cell skin cancer,” his dermatologist, Dr. David Corbett, noted, reassuring that even if the cancer diagnosis was confirmed, it was “not a threat to his health” (via the New York Post). During this physical, Clinton was also diagnosed with high cholesterol and was prescribed medication to keep it under control. His first health concerns were mild, but things got more serious just a few years later.

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Bill Clinton was only 58 years old when he underwent his first heart operation. In September 2004, he had quadruple coronary bypass surgery, a procedure that restores blood flow to a blocked artery. In Bill’s case, he had four blocked arteries. The open heart surgery took four hours, during which doctors took tissue from his left leg and chest to create new pathways for the blood to flow. “There was a substantial likelihood that he would have had a substantial heart attack in the near future,” the hospital’s then-chief of cardiology, Dr. Allan Schwartz, told The New York Times.

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He was lucky he sought medical attention just in time. Bill began to feel out of sorts several months earlier, when he noticed shortness of breath and chest constrictions. But he dismissed the symptoms as acid reflux and the result of a busy work life. Bill responded well to the surgery, something for which his wife, Hillary Clinton, and daughter, Chelsea Clinton, were endlessly grateful. “Bill, Chelsea and I stayed up pretty late last night talking, playing games and just being with each other. These past few days have been quite an emotional roller-coaster for us,” Hillary said in a statement.

While the surgery was successful, Bill experienced some complications that were addressed a few months later. In March 2005, he underwent a second procedure to remove fluid and scar tissue from his chest, which had caused one of his lungs to partially collapse following his bypass surgery, NBC News reported. 

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Less than six years after his open-heart surgery, Bill Clinton experienced heart problems once again. In February 2010, he underwent yet another operation to have two stents placed in an artery. The tube-like devices help keep the artery open to allow blood flow into the heart. “Of the four bypass grafts that he had six years ago, one of the bypass grafts was completely blocked,” Dr. Allan Schwartz told reporters (via BBC). “The artery that had been supplied previously by this bypass graft was opened by placing the two stents.”

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Now much more aware of his heart issues, Clinton sought medical help just days after he began experiencing chest discomfort. The former president responded well to the procedure. “He is in good spirits,” Schwartz said. Stent insertion is relatively common after bypass surgery. “This kind of disease is progressive. It’s not a one-time event, so it really points out the need for constant surveillance,” Dr. Clyde Yancy, the then-president of the American Heart Association, explained.

The prognosis of stent surgery is generally really good. “This will hopefully permanently deal with the blockage,” Dr. Jon Resar, then-director of the Adult Cardiac Catheterization Laboratory at Johns Hopkins Hospital, told ABC News. After 2004, Clinton implemented changes to his diet and was put on medication to manage his cholesterol, but clogged arteries can still happen even if the patient “does all the right things,” he added. Still, Clinton adopted a vegan diet for a few years after the 2010 health scare.

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After 2010, Bill Clinton enjoyed several years of good health. But that changed in 2021, when he suffered a major health scare. That October, Clinton was hospitalized in California after developing a urinary tract infection that spread to his bloodstream. The public immediately became concerned because the then-75-year-old was admitted to the intensive care unit. However, doctors clarified he was taken to the ICU to protect the former president’s privacy and safety and not because his condition was critical, CNN reported.

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Clinton responded well to the treatment with intravenous antibiotics and was discharged a few days later. After getting home from California, where he had gone to attend an event with the Clinton Foundation, he recorded a video message to thank the public for its support. “I was so touched by the outpouring of support I received during my stay at the hospital,” he said in the video shared on X. 

That December, Clinton revealed the state of his health, noting he had been struggling with a recurrent UTI for more than a year. “I knew I had it 15 months ago,” he told People. “I took a six-day antibiotic treatment. We thought it was okay, and it wasn’t. So it came out, got in my bloodstream. And I was delirious for a couple of days.” After some very long months, he was feeling like himself again. “I feel better than I have in two years,” he said.

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Bill Clinton came down with COVID-19 in December 2022, toward the end of the pandemic. Luckily, he handled it well. “I’ve tested positive for Covid. I’ve had mild symptoms, but I’m doing fine overall and keeping myself busy at home,” he tweeted. Clinton used the opportunity to promote the country’s COVID-19 health efforts amid declining vaccination rates. “I’m grateful to be vaccinated and boosted, which has kept my case mild, and I urge everyone to do the same, especially as we move into the winter months,” he added.

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That wasn’t the first time he had jumped into national efforts to increase public trust in inoculation. In December 2020, Clinton, Barack Obama, and George W. Bush promised to get the COVID-19 vaccine on camera. “He will do it in a public setting if it will help urge all Americans to do the same,” his rep told CNN. While vaccination helped keep him healthy during the pandemic, he wasn’t as lucky when he caught influenza.

In December 2024, Clinton was hospitalized two days before Christmas after developing a fever from the flu. He was in the hospital for a day and was home in time for the festivities. “President Clinton was discharged earlier today after being treated for the flu,” his office told CNN. His hospital stay consisted mainly of testing and observation, as the flu can be more dangerous for people over 65. And, as the recent videos have shown, Clinton’s health issues seem to have taken a toll. 

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