Rita Wilson Details the ‘Extreme Side Effects’ of Taking Chloroquine While Battling Coronavirus

Rita Wilson is opening up about her experience after testing positive for the coronavirus.

Rita Wilson is opening up about her experience after testing positive for the coronavirus.

Wilson and her husband, Tom Hanks, were two of the first celebrities to reveal their positive diagnosis last month, which happened while they were in Australia as Hanks filmed Baz Luhrmann's untitled Elvis Presley film. Thankfully, the couple has been on the mend and are now back in Los Angeles, and in a new interview with CBS This Morning, Wilson talked about her recovery process. Wilson said she was given chloroquine -- a drug used to treat malaria and certain inflammatory conditions -- to help with her fever, which she shared was close to 102 by day nine of her fighting the virus.

"I know people have been talking this drug, but I can only tell you that I don't know if the drug worked or it was just time for the fever to break," Wilson said. "My fever did break, but the chloroquine had such extreme side effects."

"I was completely nauseous and I had vertigo," she continued. "I could not walk and my muscles felt very weak. I think people have to be very considerate about that drug. We don't know if it's helpful in this case."

Wilson said she experienced extreme chills, body aches and lost her taste and smell while battling the virus. As for how she and Hanks contracted COVID-19, she says she believes they both got it at the same time rather than infecting one another.

"It was somebody they said that Tom and I were both exposed to at the same time," she shared. "We don't know when that could have been or where, but all I can say is all of our close contacts -- our family, our work team -- no one has tested positive."

ET's Nischelle Turner talked to King about why Wilson decided now was the time to talk about her and Hanks' diagnosis.

"She thought, if this will help someone else understand what we went through and how we came out on the other side, I think that's ultimately why she decided to did it," King explained.

In an Instagram post late last month, 63-year-old Wilson called herself a "COVID-19 survivor." She recently partnered with Naughty by Nature to record a remix of their 1993 hit, "Hip Hop Hooray," to raise money for MusiCares' COVID-19 Relief Fund, which supports music professionals affected by the virus.

Meanwhile, 63-year-old Hanks has also been spreading positivity after recovering from the coronavirus. He recently delivered a heartfelt monologue shot entirely at his own house for Saturday Night Live: At Home, the comedy show's big return to TV after having to suspend production last month amid the ongoing coronavirus outbreak.

"Now, my wife and I, we're doing fine, we're doing great," Hanks shared. "We're hunkered down like all of us should be. In fact, this suit, this is the first time I've worn anything other than sweat pants since March 11. And my wife had to help me put it on, because I forgot how buttons work."

"Stay safe," he added. "We are in this for the duration and we will get through this together. We are going to thank our hospital workers, our first responders and all the helpers, the supermarket stockers, the people who deliver our food, the people who are making takeout for us, the men and women who are keeping this country going at a time when we need them more than ever before," Hanks said. "We're going to take care of them and we're going to take care of each other."

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