Chad Michael Murray looked back on a harrowing near-death health scare that happened when he was just a teen.
“I was 15,” the “Freakier Friday” star, now 43, recalled on Friday’s episode of the “Great Company” podcast. “My intestines had twisted, and I was hospitalized for two and a half months. It was a lot.”
Murray said after he underwent surgery to correct the problem, he suffered internal bleeding. “I lost 50 percent of my blood,” he added. “I was on my deathbed.”
When asked if he could remember the experience, the “One Tree Hill” alum explained that he was “in and out of consciousness” and said he still has “visions” about the ordeal.
“I don’t want to get too specific about all that stuff, but I just remember seeing my father, the weakest I’d ever seen him, and a priest at the end of my bed,” he continued.
“They’re talking about last rites and all that stuff, and they [medical staff] gave me a blood transfusion to save my life. It saved my life.”
Murray said the scary ordeal continued post-surgery, noting his organs “shut down” at one point because all of his blood “coagulated around them.” He said he then had a second surgery to “clean everything up.”
The experience was formative in more ways than one. Murray recalled meeting a nurse named Alana — who also worked as a model — who encouraged him to pursue a career in entertainment.
“Alana says to me, ‘Oh gosh, you should model,’” he divulged, though he told her he didn’t want to model.
“‘I want to be an actor,’” the “Cinderella Story” actor recalled telling her. “‘Like, I love film and television. I want to give this gift to other people.’ She’s like, ‘Well, you can segue from modeling into acting. Look, when you get out, I’m hooking you up with a modeling company I know.’ And she meant it.”
Murray confessed when he finally left the hospital, his weight had dropped dramatically — from 180 pounds to 118 pounds.
“I was a skeleton when I got out,” he shared, adding that he didn’t recognize himself when looking in the mirror. “It was the scariest thing ever.”
Despite all of the hurdles he went through, Murray said his health journey strengthened his faith and bond with his father.
“I started my relationship with God, and my relationship with my father became really close,” he said, adding that he’s “beyond grateful.”
Murray would go on to land several high profile roles in the mid-2000s, including parts in “House of Wax,” “Freaky Friday,” and “Dawson’s Creek.”
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