Kelsey Grammer Opens Up About Near-Death Heart Attack

ENTERTAINMENT TONIGHT sat down today with Kelsey Grammer, in a new interview to air Thursday, July 24th.

For the first time on-camera, the veteran star shared his dramatic health update almost two months after his reported mild heart attack. "We originally said it was just a mild heart attack, and it actually wasn't very mild," he reveals. "They had to blast me twice and get me started all over again."

In the last weekend of May, Kelsey suffered the heart attack after paddleboarding with his wife Camille near their home off Hawaii's Kona coast. He was flown to a hospital in Honolulu and released several days later.

He tells ET about the near-death experience, "[My heart] stopped, and Camille was patting my head and she said, 'That's when you looked up at me and said, 'I'm going now.' And then off I went. And then she said, 'I'm going to need to zap him.'"

"It felt like somebody was actually trying to tear my chest apart with the jaws of life," explains Kelsey, adding, "As I lay there dying, I said, 'Please, I cannot do this. I don't want to see anything; I don't want to see any light; I don't want to have any little adventures that make me want to get out of this life. I need to finish this one.'"

Kelsey says he's "doing fine" now, and taking it slow in terms of exercising, "I'm playing a lot of Wii!"

Kelsey stars in the new political comedy, "Swing Vote," in theaters August 1st.

Comments

[josephbua]

I finally wrote a comment here that was moderated and determined to be inappropriate.

It was about this post.

Certainly I'm not gonna spend the time to write it again, but it's always interesting to me what is okay and what is not okay at the ol' HuffPo, where they're consistent about opposing censorship.

Unless they're the censors.

[max]

heart was good, i liked "dog and butterfly?

[Merckx]

Is he scheduled for a by-pass?
What caused the heart attack?
Did it just heal itself?

[MissingAmerica]

He wasn't zapped for a mild heart attack; he was zapped for a big one which we were told was mild! I'm so glad it wasn't his time to leave us. His character of Frasier has made us laugh for nearly three decades. There is a lot more left. Take good care of yourself, Kelsey. The world is not yet ready to wave goodbye! Aloha nui loa!

[ibivi]

I think he's indulging in a bit of fantasy here. People don't need to be "zapped" for a mild heart attack. God, the man's a blowhard.

[GeeBee]

I love Kelsey's work - even when he is given crappy material to work with it' s a pleasure to see him wring out of it what he can. In fact I love everything about the guy except his politics, and I'm willing to give him a pass on that.

[andvoodoo2]

Glad you made it, Kelsey!

[robiform]

I'm glad he's feeling better--I don't agree with his politics, but he's a very talented actor, and who knows? Maybe he'll rethink being a Republican!

[Cakey4814]

Love Kelsey Grammer. Loved his show too but could never find it; they kept switching the days and times. Just now seeing some of the shows I missed in reruns. Hope they have a reunion show; would love to see the old gang.

[trollsbwild]

Hoping for a full recovery. Good luck.

[liberalgirl31]

Glad he is OK. It would have been a great loss. He's a talented actor.

[CarolinaObserver]

kelsey grammer=total bad ass

[InformedSources]

Standup Paddleboarding is a great workout. Works all the core muscles very strongly. Looks like too much for a guy with a weak heart, though. Feel better, Kelsey!

[PatA]

Kelsey Grammer is a class act. Glad we are going to have him around.