“I Lost 50% of My Blood”: Actor Chad Michael Murray Details Terrifying Teen Ordeal

Former teen heartthrob Chad Michael Murray is opening up about a harrowing health scare he experienced years ago.

The Freakier Friday actor, who is now 43, sat down for an episode of the “Great Company” podcast on Friday, August 8, where he recalled his near-death experience:

“I was 15,” he began. “My intestines had twisted, and I was hospitalized for two and a half months. It was a lot.” Even though he underwent surgery to rectify the issue, he was left with internal bleeding. “I lost 50 percent of my blood,” he added. “I was on my deathbed.”

When asked if he remembered the ordeal, Chad Michael Murray said that he was “in and out of consciousness” and said he still has “visions” about the experience.

“I don’t want to get too specific about all that stuff, but I just remember seeing my father, the weakest I’d ever seen him, and a priest at the end of my bed,” he continued. “They’re talking about last rites and all that stuff, and they [medical staff] gave me a blood transfusion to save my life. It saved my life.”

Chad Michael Murray also said that the harrowing experience continued well after his surgery, noting his organs “shut down” at one point because all of his blood “coagulated around them." He then had to undergo a second surgery to “clean everything up.”

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Chad Michael Murray recalls just how he got into Hollywood, and how he feels about his career looking back: Read more

As reported by Us Weekly, it was during his time in the hospital that the One Tree Hill alum realized he should pursue a career in acting, and he credits two nurses for the same: Sandy and Alana.

“Alana says to me, ‘Oh gosh, you should model,’” he said. “I was like, ‘I don’t want to model. I want to be an actor. Like, I love film and television. I want to give this gift to other people.’ She’s like, ‘Well, you can segue from modeling into acting. Look, when you get out, I’m hooking you up with a modeling company I know.’ And she meant it.”

Alana stuck to her words, Chad Michael Murray said:

“I got out. I went from, like, 180 to 118 pounds. I was a skeleton when I got out,” he said of being discharged from the medical facility. “It was the scariest thing ever. I remember looking in the mirror the first time going, ‘Who is that?” I cried [and] I couldn’t believe that I was looking back at that guy.”

But it was this harrowing experience that taught him to work on maintaining relationships, Chad Michael Murray said on the podcast:

“I started my relationship with God, and my relationship with my father became really close. My dad [was] raising five kids on his own [and] came to the hospital every single day, and he spent countless nights with me when he had four more kids at home.” He added, “The man is tough as nails, and he did that for us. I’m overly, like, beyond grateful. That’s when our relationship really bonded.”

Chad Michael Murray is all set to reprise his role as Lindsay Lohan's love interest in the sequel of the 2003 hit film Freaky Friday, titled, Freakier Friday. After the movie premiered in Hollywood this week, the actor gushed over the film, calling it "incredible."

"It's so good," he said. "It might even be better than the first one. It's that good." He said of his character, "For Jake in particular, I think we're going to be excited to see what he's been pining over for the past 22 years."

As reported by AOL, when asked about what he remembers from the initial stages of his career, Chad Michael Murray said it's "unbelievable gratitude."

"You're so excited, you can't keep yourself composed," he recalled. "You think you made it even though you know you didn't. The fear of failure because you're worried you're gonna go out there and do it wrong, and then how long will it take before they figure out that you can't really do it."

He continued,

"There's so many feelings, but at the end of the day, I always remember, I always try to remind myself why I became an actor. I became an actor because I wanted to go make film and television that would entertain people," he said. "I wanted to get people that moment to step away from whatever was going on in their life and give them that departure." He added, "So I remember that and I smile and I remember my dad's words. My dad always just said, 'Just have fun with it, whatever you're doing, just have fun.'"

Chad Michael Murray is most known for having starred alongside Hilary Duff in the 2004 film A Cinderella Story. He also worked on One Tree Hill from 2003 to 2012, and made appearances on Gilmore Girls, Dawson's Creek and more.

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