Rosie O'Donnell Reveals She Underwent Weight Loss Surgery
DETROIT (WWJ) - Entertainer Rosie O'Donnell made a big revelation about her health during a speech in Detroit on Friday.
O'Donnell announced she had weight loss surgery back in July.
The comedian and former talk show host said the gastric sleeve operation was part of her overall plan to get healthy following her July, 2012 "widow maker" heart attack.
"I was 220 pounds. I was in severe denial about that," O'Donnell said. "Also, a stent that's put in to clear the blocked artery is not curative. All it does is patch that one hole, but the rest of your arteries are still suffering if you continue to live the same way you do with kind of blind ignorance about your heart health."
O'Donnell said she was going through a lot at the time. "My wife had been very sick with cancer," O'Donnell said. "In the summer I was 40 nights on a cot in the hospital. Number one, stress; number two, I was overweight; number three, I was not exercising at all," she admitted.
O'Donnell is now 40 pounds lighter
She made the comments during the 10th Annual Go Red Luncheon at the MGM Grand Detroit.
O'Donnell's message for the 600-plus crowd: You're worth it, take care of yourself, and know the symptoms of America's leading killer of women and men.
