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Chevy Chase is candidly sharing details about a medical emergency that resulted in a five-week hospital stay.
In the documentary “I’m Chevy Chase and You’re Not,” set to debut on CNN on January 1, the 82-year-old actor and his family recount the ordeal following his heart complications. According to Variety, his daughter Caley Chase describes her father’s recovery by saying, “He has basically come back from the dead.”
The documentary reveals the alarming moment when Chase’s wife, Jayni, noticed something was amiss. “Something was wrong, and he couldn’t explain to me what was wrong. So, we go to the ER. His heart stops,” she recounts. She further explains that years of drinking led to cardiomyopathy, a condition where the heart muscles weaken, impairing blood circulation.
Longtime friend Peter Aaron provides additional insight in the documentary, disclosing that after Chase’s heart incident, doctors chose to induce a coma that lasted approximately eight days.
His daughter Caley recalls the grim warning from the medical team, who said, “Prepare yourselves for the worst.” They were cautioned that Chevy might not survive, and even if he did, his cognitive state was uncertain.
The actor spent five weeks in the hospital in 2021 after his health scare, although he didn’t elaborate on the nature of his illness at the time.
“These are my first few days home. I can only say how happy I am to now be back with my family. I’m feeling good,” he told Page Six at the time. “I was in the hospital five weeks. A heart issue. So, for now, I’m around the house. Not going anywhere.”
Chase previously spoke about his diagnosis of alcohol cardiomyopathy, a condition characterized by a weakening of the heart muscle caused by excessive drinking, in 2018, when speaking to The Washington Post.
“Heart failure is what it is,” Chase said in the documentary, adding he “is fine now.”
The “National Lampoon’s Vacation” star had his breakthrough in Hollywood as one of the original cast members of “Saturday Night Live.”
He became the first cast member to leave the show, making his exit at the end of the first season with hopes of pursuing a music career.
In February, the popular sketch comedy show celebrated its 50th anniversary with a three-hour live special featuring current and former cast members coming together to celebrate some of the show’s most iconic moments.
Noticeably left out of the celebration was Chase, who attended but didn’t participate in a bit on stage.
“It was kind of upsetting, actually,” he said in the documentary. “This is probably the first time I’m saying it. But I expected that I would’ve been on the stage too with all the other actors. When Garrett [Morris] and Laraine [Newman] went on the stage there, I was curious as to why I didn’t. No one asked me to. Why was I left aside?”
Chase added he reached out to “SNL” creator Lorne Michaels about being excluded but said he took it back and played it off as a joke. But, in reality, he felt as if “somebody made a mistake, and that “they should’ve had me on that stage. It hurt.”