A near-death health experience continues to haunt Freakier Friday star Chad Michael Murray, decades later.
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During an appearance on the Great Company podcast, the actor opened up about an incident that occurred when he was a teenager.
“I was 15. My intestines had twisted,” he recalled. “I was hospitalized for two and a half months. It was a lot.”
Murray further revealed that he had undergone surgery to correct the issue, but had suffered internal bleeding. “I lost 50 percent of my blood,” he revealed. “I was on my deathbed.”
Continuing to open up about the terrifying health experience, the Freakier Friday star said he was “in and out of consciousness” and still has “visions” about the ordeal.
“I don’t want to get too specific about all that stuff,” he noted. “But I just remember seeing my father, the weakest I’d ever seen him, and a priest at the end of my bed. They’re talking about last rites and all that stuff, and [the medical staff] gave me a blood transfusion to save my life. It saved my life.”
Murray then said the ordeal continued after the procedure, pointing out his oranges had “shut down” at one point due to all of his blood “coagulated around them.” He had a second procedure to “clean everything up.”
The Freakier Friday Star Said One Nurse Encouraged Him To Go Into the Entertainment Industry Amid the Health Incident
As he spoke about the terrifying health incident, Chad Michael Murray recalled a nurse encouraging him to pursue a career in the entertainment industry.
“Alana [the nurse] says to me, ‘Oh gosh, you should model.'” Murray said. “[I told her] ‘I want to be an actor. Like, I love film and television. I want to give this gift to people.’ She was like, ‘Well, you can segue from modeling into acting.'”
The nurse, who was also a model, then offered him an opportunity. “[She said], ‘Look, when you get out, I’m hooking you up with a modeling company I know.’ And she meant it.”
Murray then said his weight dropped dramatically during the health ordeal. He went from weighing 180 pounds to 118 pounds.
“I was a skeleton when I got out,” The actor said, noting he didn’t recognize himself when looking in a mirror. “It was the scariest thing ever.”
Despite the situation, Murray said his health obstacle led to him strengthening his faith and bond with his father. “I started my relationship with God, and my relationship with my father became really close.”
He added that he was “beyond grateful” to survive the ordeal.