Ray Romano is discussing a recent health crisis he experienced. In an appearance on Marc Maron’s “WTF Podcast,” the “Everybody Loves Raymond” star revealed that he had heart surgery to open an almost entirely clogged valve.
The celebrity had a stent implanted in his heart after doctors discovered an artery was 90% blocked. Romano was told by doctors that he experienced a potentially fatal heart attack.
Romano shared, “I had to have a stent put in,” as he and Maron discussed their respective health, diets, and advancing ages. We were quite fortunate to uncover it before my heart gave out.
Romano has admitted that he has high cholesterol and that he is now taking medication for it. To paraphrase: “If I could go back 20 years, I would have taken the medicine.”
Romano had to have heart surgery, and doctors also warned him that he was diabetic.
Romano told ET earlier this month that he had to go to the hospital while filming his directorial and acting debut, Somewhere in Queens, due to chest issues.
According to Romano’s interview with ET, “I called my agent at 1 a.m. because I couldn’t sleep and said, ‘I can’t do it, I can’t do this.'” To quote the author directly: “Because, and I’m not making this up, I was having chest pains and had to go to my cardiologist in New York to do a stress test on the treadmill.”
Romano has already discussed how surprised he was when Peter Boyle, who portrayed his on-screen father Frank Barone on Everybody Loves Raymond, suffered a heart attack on the CBS set in 1999.
On set, one of the assistant directors noticed that Boyle was constantly coughing and complaining of chest trouble.
Boyle passed away in December 2006, at the age of seventy-one.