Jimmy Kimmel couldn’t hold back his tears during last night’s broadcast of Jimmy Kimmel Live!
Late night TV host Jimmy Kimmel got personal last night as he opened up about the recent birth of his second son, William “Billy” Kimmel. Kimmel told his live audience and fans watching around the country about his son, who’s now just 11 days old, and the complications he endured three hours after his birth.
“I have a story to tell about something that happened to our family last week,” Kimmel started. “I try not to get emotional, but it was a scary story – and before I go into it I want you to know it has a happy ending, okay. So when I’m telling this, don’t get upset. Leave that to me.”
Trying to hold it together on camera, Kimmel made a light joke, stating that his son had an easy delivery and was out in “six pushes.” But as Kimmel’s story goes on, viewers heard the TV host’s story change as quickly the status of young Billy’s birth did for Kimmel. Jimmy shared that his son appeared to be a “healthy baby” until approximately three hours after he was born.
“We were out of the delivery room; we had moved to the recovery room. Our whole family was there. We introduced him to his two-and-a-half year-old sister. She was cute with him, and we were happy,” an emotional Kimmel explained to the audience. But “a very attentive nurse” named Nanoosh listened to his heart and heard a murmur. Then she noticed he was turning a bit purple.
According to Kimmel, he and his wife thought it was normal because heart murmurs are typical in newborns, and they didn’t know that he wasn’t the color he was supposed to be. He accompanied accompanied Billy and the nurse, per her request, to the neonatal ICU, and realized it was much more serious than they thought.
“It’s a terrifying thing. You know, my wife is back in the recovery room. She has no idea what’s going on, and I’m standing in a room with a lot of very worried looking people – kind of like right now – who are trying to figure out what the problem is.”
Sharing intricate details of Billy’s birth, Jimmy went on to share that a “renowned surgeon…did some kind of magic” and that open heart surgery was performed to save his son. And that it was a success.
Throughout his 13-minute monologue to his friends, family, and fans, Kimmel went on to thank a all of the medical staff that aided in his son’s survival including Dr. Evans, who originally stepped in on the case, Nurse Anne, another nurse who helped with Billy’s initial care, and of course, Nurse Nanoosh.
Watch Jimmy’s full story of his son’s birth above.
