Al Roker revealed he came close to dying from blood clots that put him in the hospital at the end of 2022. In a clip from the podcast Your Mama’s Kitchen that was obtained by PEOPLE, the 69-year-old weatherman opened up about almost losing his life during the health crisis one year later.
“It’s no secret that I had a severe medical issue, and to be completely honest, I almost died. I didn’t know it at the time,” Al explained on the November 8 podcast episode. “But I missed Thanksgiving, and almost missed Christmas. And I forgot how important those touchstone moments are.”
The Today anchor admitted that he felt like he “ruined Thanksgiving” for his family last year, so he “was not going to let that happen” for Christmas the following month. “It was important to me and gave me something to push for. And I made Christmas dinner,” he shared.
Al revealed on Instagram in Nov. 2022 that he was hospitalized with blood clots. His health issues caused him to miss the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade for the first time in 27 years. Al returned home from the hospital on December 8 and made his triumphant return to Today in January. “My heart is just bursting,” he said on the show. “I’m so thrilled to see all of you and the crew and everybody. Right now, I’m running on adrenaline. I’m just thrilled to be here.”
Al’s wife, ABC News broadcaster Deborah Roberts, was also present for his first day back on Today. “It’s not lost on us that this is a major, major thing for Al to be here. He is a living, breathing miracle. He really is. I’m not overstating it,” Deborah said. “Al was a very, very, very sick man and I don’t think most people know that. “He was a medical mystery for weeks. It was the most tumultuous, frightening journey we have ever been on.”
Months after recovering from blood clots, Al ended up in the hospital again for a second knee replacement in May of 2023. Al returned to Today after his knee surgery on May 30 and confirmed that the procedure went well. “[The surgery] was a little more complicated. It was called a revision – it was a replacement of a replacement. So they had to go in and take stuff out, put new stuff in,” he said. Al previously got his first knee surgery in April of 2022.