Bob Harper got candid about the massive heart attack he suffered while working out at a New York City gym in February in an interview with the “Today” show on Tuesday.
“I was in full cardiac arrest. I was, I mean, not to be dramatic, I was dead,” Harper, 51, told host Savannah Guthrie. “I was on that ground, dead.”
“I had what they call a ‘widow-maker,”’ Harper, who came out as gay in 2013, continued. “It was a 6% survival rate, and the fact that there were doctors in the gym when I had the heart attack saved my life.”
Two doctors who happened to be at the gym at the same time were able to revive him with CPR. He was then transferred to a hospital where he was in a coma for two days and hospitalized for a week.
“I was like Dory from ‘Finding Nemo’ because I had this short-term memory, so I was reliving the heart attack over and over again,” Harper says. “I was like, wait, why am I here? What happened to me? And 10 minutes later I was asking the same thing and just getting super emotional.”
While Harper has recovered he now works out under medical supervision. He also stressed how genetics play a part in heart attack risk and the importance of monitoring one’s health.
“You really face your mortality,” Harper says. “And I’m really understanding what’s important, and what’s really important in life. And let me tell you I am not sweating the small things anymore. And I am not sweating the big things anymore. I care about my friends. I care about my family. I care about my dog. I am going to appreciate every single day that I’m here.”
Harper served as a trainer on “The Biggest Loser” before taking over as host from Alison Sweeney in 2015. He has also appeared as an advisor on “The New Celebrity Apprentice.”
