Beloved American actor and comedian Chevy Chase survived a "near-fatal" health crisis during the Covid-19 pandemic, spending eight days in an induced coma after his heart stopped, a new documentary has disclosed.
A Family's Harrowing Ordeal
The shocking details are revealed in the film I'm Chevy Chase and You're Not. In 2021, the star of classic comedies like Caddyshack was hospitalised for a total of five weeks. His wife, Jayni Chase, recounts the terrifying onset, explaining that he knew something was seriously wrong but couldn't articulate it.
"We go to the ER. His heart stops," she states in the documentary. She links the crisis to a past period of heavy drinking, which led to cardiomyopathy—a condition where the heart muscle weakens and cannot pump blood effectively.
"Prepare Yourselves for the Worst"
Following the cardiac arrest, doctors made the decision to place the 82-year-old in a medically induced coma for eight days. The situation was so grave that his daughter, Caley, was given a stark warning by medical staff.
"We might not get him back. We don't know how present he'll be. Prepare yourselves for the worst," they told her. Describing his awakening, Caley said, "When he woke up, all he could do was use his voice. He has basically come back from the dead."
Lasting Effects and Past Scars
Chase himself confirms that the ordeal has had lasting consequences, notably memory problems since his hospitalisation. The documentary shows him struggling to recall certain past controversies, including a famed fistfight with fellow comedian Bill Murray backstage at Saturday Night Live.
The veteran performer also expressed hurt over being omitted from the on-stage celebrations during the SNL 50th-anniversary special earlier this year, despite being in attendance. "I expected that I would've been on the stage too with all the other actors," he admitted.
This was not Chase's first brush with death. In 1980, he was almost electrocuted on the set of the film Modern Problems, an accident that plunged him into a period of depression.
