Oprah Winfrey was forced to cancel all work after coming down with a ‘serious’ case of pneumonia.
The chat show legend opened up on her recent illness while speaking to Ellen DeGeneres, explaining that her pneumonia worsened after antibiotics failed to work.
The 65-year-old said: ‘I came back from overseas and I thought I had a cold, but it wasn’t a cold. I ended up in the emergency room and they said “you have pneumonia”.
I go home with pneumonia, and pneumonia is nothing to play with, y’all, it is very serious. I was on antobiotics for a week – the antibiotics weren’t working.
‘I went back for another CT scan and they said “it’s actually worse, you should see a lung specialist”.’ Oprah went to see the specialist, which is when she realised she was really unwell.
The mogul said: ‘He puts a stethoscope here [over her heart] and I see the “Oh s***” face. It’s like, “Oh my, something’s wrong with you”, and I can see it, and he didn’t hide it. I said, “I told you it sounds like a rattlesnake in there”. He said, “You must immediately cancel everything”.
I’ve never cancelled anything in my life. I work when I’m sick.
‘He said, “You can’t fly anywhere for a month” and then he had 18 vials of blood drawn and I thought, this must be serious because I saw his face.’
Thankfully, Oprah’s condition improved, and that’s all down to the doctor, who wasn’t about to let the queen of television get sicker under his care.
Oprah added: ‘He called me every day to make sure I was using the inhaler and taking the right antibiotics, and when I walked in and I was better, he thanked me three times for getting better, and said, “Can I have a hug?
‘And I could tell he was like, “Not on my watch is this going to happen”.’ Oprah told Ellen that she got a clear bill of health the day before her interview.
