*Al Roker is praising his wife Deborah Roberts for supporting him during his health crisis last year, saying he “wouldn’t be alive without her.”
The 68-year-old weatherman was hospitalized twice in November for serious medical issues related to blood clots. Roker previously shared on social media that he had clots in his lungs and in one leg.
Earlier this year, Roker explained on “Today” that he underwent a 7-hour surgery to “correct a bunch of internal stuff.”
The TV personality told Page Six at the Hudson River Friends 7th Annual Playground Committee Luncheon that he’s “just so overwhelmed by the outpouring of love and prayers and of course, my wife Deborah. I wouldn’t be alive without her.”
READ MORE: Al Roker Makes Emotional Return to ‘Today’ Following Health Hiatus | Watch
Roker also admitted that he came close to death last year.
“I didn’t know it at the time,” he said. “Deborah was great at keeping all that away from me so I thought I was doing OK but that was great because I was able to focus on getting better.”
Roker made his return to the “Today” show in January following a two-month health-related hiatus.
“My heart is just bursting. I’m just so thrilled to see all of you and all of the crew and everybody. Right now I’m running on adrenaline and I’m just thrilled to be here,” Roker told his co-hosts, with wife Deborah Roberts by his side.
Roker first saw doctors in early November about stomach pains and said he had no idea his condition was so serious at the time.
“I had two complicating things. I had blood clots that they think came up after I had COVID in September and then I had this internal bleeding going on. I lost half my blood,” he said. “They were trying to figure out where it was. And finally they went in, did this surgery. I had two bleeding ulcers. They had to resection the colon, take out my gal bladder.”
Roker added, “I went in for one operation, I got four free, so I got that going for me.”
“Al was a very, very, very sick man … most people didn’t know that,” explained Roberts. “Two doctors led this brilliant team — it was a team — who had to figure out what was happening. He was a medical mystery for a couple of weeks. And it was the must tumultuous, frightening journey we have been on.”
Roker and Roberts married in 1995 and they share daughter Leila and son Nicholas. Roker has another daughter from a previous marriage.
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