Oprah Winfrey Says Her Recent Health Scare Was So Bad, Her Doctor Needed a Hug

Oprah Winfrey
Steve Granitz/WireImage

Oprah Winfrey is revealing she recently had a serious health issue.

Oprah Winfrey is revealing she recently had a serious health issue.

The legendary media mogul appears on Monday's The Ellen DeGeneres Show and shares that after a trip overseas she ended up in the emergency room because she thought she had a cold that wouldn't go away. Winfrey says she was diagnosed with pneumonia and then prescribed antibiotics, but when she wasn't getting better, she saw a lung specialist.

"He puts a stethoscope here [over her heart] and I see the 'Oh s**t' face," she recalls. "It's like, 'Oh my, something's wrong with you,' and I can see it, and he didn't hide it. I said, 'I told you it sounds like a rattlesnake in there.' He said, 'You must immediately cancel everything.' I've never canceled anything in my life. I work when I'm sick. .. He said, 'You can't fly anywhere for a month' and then he had 18 vials of blood drawn and I thought, this must be serious because I saw his face."

Thankfully, Winfrey said she got better after a week.

"He called me every day to make sure I was using the inhaler and taking the right antibiotics, and when I walked in and I was better, he thanked me three times for getting better, and said, 'Can I have a hug?'" she shares. "And I could tell he was like, 'Not on my watch is this going to happen.'"

ET last spoke with Winfrey in August, when she talked about her inspiring friendship with Gayle King.

"People come up to me all the time and introduce their friends to me as, 'This is my Gayle,'" Winfrey said. "So I think it means something. Someone asked me the other day, how is it that our friendship has lasted so long? It's because she has a life of her own and now people can see that she has a life of her own."

Watch the video below for more:

RELATED CONTENT: