Jackass Star Bam Margera Opens Up About Health Scare, “I Was Pronounced Dead”

As fans may recall, reports of Bam Margera having a major health scare popped up at the start of December. Reports at the time revealed he was being treated at an ICU and was being put on a ventilator. The professional skateboarder has now pulled back the curtain on what happened that day, revealing that he was even pronounced dead at one point. Margera sat down with his Jackass co-star Steve-O on his new podcast to talk about it and confirm how dangerous of a situation he really was in at the time. Speaking on the Steve-O’s Wild Ride podcast, Margera revealed:

“I basically was pronounced dead on Elvis’ birthday, December 8th. Did not know that I had gnarly COVID, my body was shutting down. I went into four seizures, each one lasting 10 to 20 minutes, and on the fourth one, I bit my tongue so hard it was nearly fallen off. It got so swollen and puffy it wouldn’t fit in my mouth. I was drinking the infected blood, which gave me pneumonia as well.”

Margera then went on to note that he arrived at the hospital after that, which then resulted in hime having a fifth seizure. He added: “(I) couldn’t breathe without a tube down my throat. So I woke up five days later thinking I was there for just a couple hours, they’re like ‘dude you’ve been here for nearly a week. We tried to take the tube out and you weren’t breathing on your own so we had to put it in.’ So I I spent eight days in there and dude when they took that tube out I felt like I s**ked on Darth Vader’s d**k. I had to sip one tea and lozenges all the live long day.”

Bam went on to confirm that rumors he had been placed in a conservatorship weren’t accurate, rather that he was under temporary healthcare guardianship, something his family previously revealed in a statement. Margera and Steve-O teased continuing to work together for a stand-up comedy show tour, not addressing the future of Jackass at all.

“It’s no secret that Bam has struggled with mental health and addiction. You’ve watched Bam grow up and supported him through his ups and downs,” Margera’s wife Nicole Boyd previously said in a statement. “Our family has let you into the chaos that is our home, and we want nothing more than to continue this journey together. The ‘Free Bam’ movement has caused confusion and threat to Bam and our families. Although we love sharing our lives with you, some things need to be handled privately, and treatment is one of them. Recovery is difficult and even more so under public scrutiny.”  

(Cover Photo by Mike McGregor/Getty Images for Cantor Fitzgerald)