Chevy Chase and his friends and family reflected on the harrowing period of his life when he suffered heart failure, which they said has led to memory loss.
The comedian, who was hospitalized in 2021 after experiencing heart failure, discussed his health incident and the aftermath in the upcoming CNN documentary, I’m Chevy Chase and You’re Not.
“Well, I mean, he’s 80-something and has basically come back from the dead,” his daughter Caley Chase revealed in the doc, as People reports. “He had heart failure … It’s so hard to talk about.”
His wife Jayni Chase, who married Chevy in 1982, also participated in the authorized documentary. She detailed what led up to the hospitalization. “Something was wrong, and he couldn’t explain to me what was wrong. So, we go to the ER. His heart stops,” she said. “During those years he was drinking, he got cardiomyopathy — when the heart muscles get weaker, and they can’t pump as much blood out with each beat.”
Chase’s friend Peter Aaron said in the documentary that during his hospitalization, doctors “decided to put him into a coma for maybe eight days.” He added that he believed the actor’s “memory gaps come from that incident.”
Chase himself addressed his memory loss during the film, as well as his doctors’ prognosis. “According to the doctors, my memory would be shot from it, and that’s what’s happened here,” Chase said. He shared that he played card games and chess to improve his cognitive abilities. “I’m fine now. It’s just that it affects your memory, and the doctors have told me that, so, I have to be reminded of things.”
After Chase was discharged from the hospital in 2021, he told Page Six about experiencing a “heart issue” that led to being hospitalized, but he did not detail the incident, nor did he reveal he had been in a coma.
“These are my first few days home. I can only say how happy I am to now be back with my family. I’m feeling good,” Chase said at the time. “I was in the hospital [for] five weeks. A heart issue. So, for now, I’m around the house.”
I’m Chevy Chase and You’re Not also delves into incidents from the course of his career, including issues stemming from his time on Community and on Saturday Night Live. The documentary premieres Jan. 1 on CNN.
