The Walking Dead’s Michael Rooker Reveals Battle With COVID-19

The Walking Dead star Michael Rooker says he had "quite a battle" with COVID-19 but has now recovered. In a Facebook post published Friday, where Rooker shared a photo showing negative test results, the former Merle Dixon actor detailed a period where he quarantined inside an Airstream travel trailer while battling coronavirus without "any extra medicines or vitamins or supplements." The respiratory disease "put up a pretty good fight," the 65-year-old actor wrote in a post addressed to his 1.5 million Facebook followers, "but bottom line, it ended up getting its ass knocked out."

"I've been fighting off COVID-19. and I have to let y'all know it has been quite a battle," Rooker wrote on Facebook. "And as in any war, ALL is fair. And IN the middle of this epic battle I've come to the conclusion that there aint a whole heck of a lot one can do externally, to fight off COVID-19 once it has gotten into your body. This is my personal opinion, definitely not the conclusion of some scientific study. The real battle takes place internally, on a cellular level."

Explaining why he decided against taking additional medicines or supplements, Rooker added, "I felt that if my immune system was not already prepared for this battle loading up with all this extra stuff would only do me damage as kidneys and liver would have been gravely stressed."

"In the process of fighting off COVID-19, I could feel and see the results of those daily battles, by how I felt and looked the next day. I was either feeling like crap, or pretty dang good, semi human in fact," Rooker wrote. "So, just so y'all know the end result of all those daily battles has come to an end. My body has won the WAR!"

Rooker added his immune system fought off coronavirus with a "one-two punch to the head, two body shots, and a left hook right uppercut combination."

In August, while Rooker was self-isolating on his property, the actor documented a late-night encounter with a trespasser that occurred outside his trailer.

The star next reunites with his Guardians of the Galaxy director James Gunn on DC Films production The Suicide Squad, where Rooker plays Task Force X member Savant. Described as a gritty 1970s-styled war movie, The Suicide Squad also stars Margot Robbie, Idris Elba, Joel Kinnaman, John Cena, and Viola Davis.

Warner Bros. releases The Suicide Squad on August 6, 2021.