Comedian and longtime television host Drew Carey is sharing the story of a frightening moment that ultimately reshaped his approach to his health. During a recent appearance on the “Where Everybody Knows Your Name” podcast with Ted Danson, Carey looked back on the heart attack he suffered in 2001 while filming the sitcom “The Drew Carey Show.”
Now 67 and hosting “The Price Is Right,” Carey said he did not realize in the moment that he was having a heart attack.
Instead, he brushed aside the early warning signs and went about his day, unaware that the symptoms were pointing to a serious medical emergency.
The Early Warning Signs Carey Thought Were Nothing
Opening up about the early symptoms, Carey said the first warning appeared while he was out jogging during a break from filming.
“I was really overweight, and we were supposed to come back to taping,” he recalled.
“So, I had a little chest heart monitor and whatever. And I was jogging down my street, and my heart rate went up to like 160 or something like that, like really crazy, and I was like, ‘Oh.’ And I felt, like, numb in my shoulder.”
At the time, Carey said he had a very different idea of what a heart attack was supposed to look like.
As per EW, he said: “But I thought if you had a heart attack, you go ‘Ehh!’ and fall down like in a cartoon. I thought that’s what happened when you had a heart attack. So I was like, ‘That’s really worrisome, let me slow down.’”
He slowed his pace and tried jogging again, but his heart rate spiked once more. Realizing something felt off, he eventually stopped exercising. Even then, the seriousness of the moment did not fully register. Later that same day, Carey went out to eat with his girlfriend at a Bob’s Big Boy restaurant.
“I had chili spaghetti and an iced tea after a heart attack,” Carey said.
When the Pain Became Impossible to Ignore
The following day, Carey returned to the set of “The Drew Carey Show.” But as filming preparations continued, he began to feel something was seriously wrong.
Sharp pain spread through his chest, and the discomfort quickly became impossible to ignore. Realizing the situation was urgent, Carey asked someone on set to call 911. He was rushed to the hospital, where doctors worked to stabilize him and placed a stent in his heart to restore proper blood flow.
Carey spent the night under medical care before being released the next day. “I left the next day, and I was just like weak as a kitten,” Carey recalled during the conversation.
The frightening experience stayed with him. In the years that followed, it became a turning point, forcing him to rethink his health and the daily choices he had long taken for granted.
How the Health Scare Changed His Diet & Lifestyle
Carey reflected on his eating habits at the time, which were far from healthy.
“I would go to a steak place and have the steak, the bread, the loaded mashed potatoes, a couple beers, and then a dessert,” he shared. “And whatever vegetable was there, I would just leave it there.”
After the heart scare, he began rethinking the way he ate and the choices he made every day.
“After that, I would go to a steakhouse, I’d eat the steak, the vegetables, not order a potato or not touch it, not really have the bread, and I just drink water all day,” he said. “Like, I don’t even drink—I don’t drink alcohol at all anymore. It’s wild.”
Today, vegetables and salads are a regular part of his routine, something he admits still surprises him.
“When I’m eating, like, a salad that has green beans and stuff in it, I’m like, ‘Man, 20 years ago, 25 years ago, I wouldn’t have touched this.’”
For Carey, the experience was more than a medical emergency. It became a powerful wake-up call that reshaped his lifestyle and reminded him how easily early warning signs can be overlooked.
You can hear Drew Carey’s full conversation on the podcast here.
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TV Legend Drew Carey Reveals He Suffered a Heart Attack After Missing Early Symptoms