Drew Carey is opening up about a frightening moment from the early 2000s when he unknowingly had a heart attack while working on his hit sitcom The Drew Carey Show.
The 67-year-old comedian and TV host recently shared the surprising story while appearing on Ted Danson’s podcast, Where Everybody Knows Your Name. During the conversation, The Price Is Right star Drew Carey explained that the medical emergency happened in 2001, at a time when he was preparing to return to filming his popular TV show.
Carey said he had been thinking about improving his health and decided to start jogging before going back to work. At the time, he admitted he was very overweight and wanted to become more active.
While running down the street with a heart monitor, Carey noticed something strange. His heart rate suddenly became extremely high, and he felt numbness in his shoulder. He also experienced several other symptoms that he had previously read were connected to a heart attack.
Even with those warning signs, Carey did not believe he was having a heart attack.
“I thought if you had a heart attack, you would go and fall down, like in a cartoon,” Carey said during the podcast interview.
Instead of seeking immediate help, he waited for his heart rate to slow down and then continued with his day. After finishing his run, Carey went home and told his girlfriend about the unusual experience. Still, he described it as just a “weird” situation with symptoms that felt like a heart attack.
Later that evening, he even went out to dinner at Bob’s Big Boy, where he ordered chili spaghetti and iced tea. Carey planned to call a doctor the next morning.
However, the following day was the first day back on set filming The Drew Carey Show. Because of his busy schedule, he never made that doctor’s call.
He spent the day doing rehearsals for the sitcom and said he felt mostly fine. But by the end of the day, things suddenly changed.
Carey felt tightness in his chest again while he was heading to his trailer. Struggling to climb the stairs, he realized something was wrong. That was when he finally asked a producer to call an ambulance, telling them, “I think I’m having a heart attack.”
As he waited for help, Carey even said goodbye to his friend Sam Simon, who was directing on set, because he wasn’t sure what would happen next.
Carey was taken to the hospital, where doctors kept him for two nights. During treatment, doctors inserted a stent into one of his arteries to help restore proper blood flow.
The comedian later learned he had heart disease and underwent angioplasty that same year. Years later, he was also diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes, which pushed him to make serious lifestyle changes.
In a separate interview with PEOPLE, Carey shared how he eventually improved his health through exercise and weight loss. After losing 80 pounds and focusing on cardio workouts, he even ran his first 10K race in nearly 25 years.
His health improved so much that he was able to reverse his Type 2 diabetes and no longer needs medication.
Carey’s full story about the shocking moment during filming was shared during his recent appearance on Ted Danson’s podcast.
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