Ali Wentworth and George Stephanopoulos Give Health Update After Coronavirus Diagnosis
George Stephanopoulos didn’t expect that he’d be one of the at least 600,000 Americans diagnosed with coronavirus.
The Good Morning America anchor, 59, appeared via video on Tuesday’s episode of Jimmy Kimmel Live! where he said that he was shocked when he tested positive with COVID-19, as he wasn’t experiencing the same level of symptoms as his wife, Ali Wentworth.
“I was actually pretty surprised that it turned out positive,” Stephanopoulos said. “Even the technician when she called to say so, said, ‘We don’t get it.’ My temperature was 97 my oxygen was 99. She said, ‘We were surprised too, but here we go.’ ”
Wentworth — who joined Stephanopoulos on the ABC late-night show — spent 16 days bedridden after she contracted COVID-19, battling symptoms including a high fever and body aches.
“Ali had a real tough case,” Stephanopoulos recalled. “She was in bed for a couple of weeks. I’ve never had a fever, never had a cough, never had shortness of breath, never had chills. The only thing I could think of is, one day — a couple, now almost three weeks ago — [I had] a little bit of lower back pain and went to bed early. And then a couple of days after that had no sense of smell for about a day. But that was several weeks ago. And since then, just nothing beyond that.”
“It’s funny because it’s very indicative of our lives,” joked Wentworth. “I get corona and I’m deathly ill for three weeks with a high fever, and sweating and achy and going crazy like Martin Sheen in Apocalypse Now. And George gets it, and he has no symptoms.”
“The whole thing annoyed me and if I wasn’t quarantined with him, we would probably take a separate weekend away,” she teased.
Ultimately, Stephanopoulos said he’s “feeling fine,” and has even continued to anchor GMA from his living room — something he said is easy because Wentworth and their two teenage daughters (Elliott Anastasia, 17, and Harper Andrea, 14) are sleeping.
“My biggest concern is the dog going nuts and seeing a squirrel in the backyard,” he said.
As for Wentworth, she’s on the mend as well, thanks to Stephanopoulos, who she said is a natural caregiver.
“He instinctively knew when I needed my temperature taken,” the actress, 55, told Kimmel. “He didn’t have to bathe me or anything, but he brought me food and chicken soup, and lemonade. He was actually a rock star.”
Asked how she handled her isolation, Wentworth said she spent most of the time “focussed on getting healthy and getting well,” just “sleeping and taking Tylenol P.M.”
“I watched all seven seasons of Mad Men,” she added, “And in my delirium, I actually believe, I thought I was married to Jon Hamm and that he was cheating on me.”
Stephanopoulos is also watching TV, his daughters turning him on to Love Island in between their schoolwork.
“That’s some bad parenting right there,” he laughed.
RELATED: Ali Wentworth Tests Positive for Coronavirus, Says She’s ‘Never Been Sicker’: ‘This Is Pure Misery’
As of Tuesday night, there have been at least 606,800 reported cases of coronavirus in the United States, according to a New York times database. At least 25,922 have died.
Also on Jimmy Kimmel Live, Wentworth told viewers that if they had coronavirus and had any questions about the experience, they could come directly to her.
“I’m telling you right now, you can DM me on Instagram if you have it and you’re scared and you want any pointers,” Wentworth said, adding that talking to people who had COVID-19 was “really helpful” when she was first diagnosed.
Jimmy Kimmel Live airs weeknights (11:30 p.m. ET) on ABC.
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