Legendary American comedian and actor 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 revealed.
A Harrowing Hospitalisation and Induced Coma
The shocking details are disclosed in the film I'm Chevy Chase and You're Not. The star, famed for Caddyshack and the National Lampoon series, was hospitalised for a total of five weeks in 2021. His wife, Jayni Chase, recounts the terrifying onset, explaining he felt unwell but couldn't articulate what was wrong.
"We go to the ER. His heart stops," she states in the documentary. She links the cardiac event to a past cardiomyopathy diagnosis, a weakening of the heart muscle often associated with his previous drinking, which affected its ability to pump blood effectively.
'Prepare Yourselves for the Worst'
Following the cardiac arrest, doctors made the drastic decision to place Chase 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 eventual 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 Controversies
The 82-year-old actor has suffered ongoing memory problems since the ordeal. These lapses are evident in the documentary, where he struggles to recall certain past controversies, including a notorious fistfight with fellow comedian Bill Murray in a Saturday Night Live dressing room.
Chase also expresses hurt over being omitted from the on-stage celebrations during the Saturday Night Live 50th-anniversary special earlier this year, which he attended as a guest. "I expected that I would've been on the stage too with all the other actors," he admitted, calling the snub "upsetting."
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 led to a period of depression for the comedian.
