Montel Williams is counting his blessings. The former talk show host, 62, revealed in a new interview that he suffered a life-threatening health scare in May.
“I had what they call a hemorrhagic stroke,” he told The Blast on Wednesday, October 10. “I almost died. I’m lucky to be alive.”
Williams was working out alone at a gym in his New York City hotel on May 30 when he heard what he described as a “loud pop” on his left side.
“I looked up and everything turned into kaleidoscope,” he recalled to the website. “I knew something was majorly wrong, so I forced myself to get to my room on the 14th floor and called my wife [Tara Fowler]. I told her that I may be having a stroke, so please call 911. She did the rest.”
A special emergency vehicle for stroke victims rushed to the hotel, and medical professionals performed a CAT scan on the Emmy winner on the scene. They determined that he had indeed suffered a stroke and took him to the hospital, where he received immediate treatment.
Williams ended up spending 21 days in the hospital, nine of which he was in the intensive care unit.
“I give all the credit to my wife,” he told The Blast. “She laid on the bed with me for all 21 days, sleeping at the hospital and staying there 18 hours a day. The only thing I remember for the first five days of the ICU is her saying, ‘I love you.’”
The U.S. Marine Corps and Navy veteran, who was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 1999, said he is close to a full recovery, though he is still taking some medication. He called his stroke “a wake-up call to go 100 percent, instead of the 300 percent I was working at.”
Williams now hosts Lifetime’s Military Makeover.
