Montel Williams Reveals He Suffered Rare Stroke: I Was Almost Paralyzed

Montel Williams

Montel Williams Reveals He Suffered From Rare Stroke In June

Montel Williams is giving details about his life after having a severe stroke earlier this year. In June, we reported that the former  talk show host was hospitalized, but expected to recover. New reports are revealing Williams was not doing so well; in fact, the 61-year-old was in the hospital for 21 days due to suffering from a cerebellar hemorrhagic stroke after an intense workout. The rare stroke causes coordination problems to the body, usually on one side.

Months later, Williams says he is doing well and is taking daily physical therapy sessions in order to get his body back where it previously was. He says about the experience,

This gave me a wake up call in a lot of ways.

Adding,

I was pushing way harder than I should [have been] pushing, chasing this weird body ideal that I had when I was a kid. A very close doctor friend of mine said to me, ‘So what? So you can be the best looking f—— corpse in the morgue? What good does that do you?’ And it took those words and this stroke to set in. I said, ‘I gotta stop.’

He recalls when he was in the hospital,

I could barely talk. I couldn’t sit up. I couldn’t stand. I was almost paralyzed, it was terrifying. But I remember telling myself, ‘You’re not dying. You’re not quitting. You’re going to fight this. You’re going to get this back.’

As of now,

I’m way ahead of the rehab game right now. My physical therapist, Paul Reilly, asked early on, ‘What do you want to get out of this?’ And I said, ‘I’d love to snowboard again this year.’ So we set that goal and we’re almost there. I really need another month before I’m beyond that acute phase of having a stroke. But I made it back. I got it back. And I probably will snowboard in January.

It’s great to see he’s back on track!