Whoopi Goldberg Had 30 Percent Chance of Dying From Pneumonia

The View co-host Whoopi Goldberg has been extremely open about the life-threatening bout with pneumonia she experienced this year. On Monday, the EGOT winner invited the doctors who saved her life to her ABC talk show to explain how severe her lung infection was.

Goldberg’s primary care physician, Dr. Jorge Rodriguez, said that his patient was “gasping for air” and that he could “barely understand what she was saying” because her teeth were chattering.

Her pulmonologist, Dr. Martin Greenberg, said Goldberg’s elevated heart rate, decreased oxygen levels, high fever and shortness of breath gave the talk show host a 1 in 3 chance of dying.

Rodriguez said he was extremely concerned about Goldberg’s health and “tried not to sound scared” when she contacted him about not being able to walk on her own and just wanting to sleep. The doctor said he “was afraid she wasn’t going to wake up.”

Goldberg offered advice to viewers after her medical encounter. “Inactivity, not doing anything, not checking, will kill you,” she said. “So get your ego together and say, ‘Yeah, I’m going to the doctor because I don’t feel good. It’s OK to go to the doctor because you don’t feel good.”

In March, Goldberg revealed that she “came very, very close to leaving the Earth” following complications from pneumonia and sepsis. One month later, she said that she had been hospitalized again.