Actor Chad Michael Murray says a life-threatening illness when he was 15 years old left him on the brink of death and ultimately altered the course of his life.
Speaking on “The Great Company” podcast on Aug. 8, the 43-year-old “One Tree Hill” star said that his intestines twisted when he was a teenager, triggering severe internal bleeding. He spent more than two months in the hospital and underwent two surgeries to survive.
“I was hospitalized for two and a half months. It was a lot,” Murray said. “We had surgery. I had internal bleeding. I lost 50 percent of my blood. I was on my deathbed.”
The actor recalled moments of drifting in and out of consciousness while his family braced for the worst. “I just remember seeing my father, the weakest I’d ever seen him, and a priest at the end of my bed. They’re talking about last rites and all that stuff, and [the nurse] gave me a blood transfusion to save my life. ... It saved my life,” he said.
Following the first surgery, Murray’s organs began shutting down, forcing doctors to wait for stabilization before performing a second procedure to remove coagulated blood and repair further damage.
When he was finally discharged, the toll on his body was dramatic. “I went from, like, 180 to 118 pounds. I was a skeleton when I got out,” he said. “I remember looking in the mirror the first time, going, ‘Who is that?’ ... I cried. I couldn’t believe that I was looking back at that guy.”
While the ordeal was physically devastating, Murray said it also deepened his faith and strengthened his bond with his father, who was raising five children alone at the time.
“I started my relationship with God, and my relationship with my father became really close,” he said. “Because my dad, raising five kids on his own, came to the hospital every single day, and he spent multiple, multiple, countless nights with me when he had four more kids at home.”
“The man is tough as nails, and he did that for us, and so ... I’m beyond grateful,” he added.
The experience also proved to be an unexpected entry point into his acting career. During his recovery, one of his nurses, who also worked as a model, suggested he try modeling as a path to acting. Murray said she later connected him with a modeling agency, which eventually led to auditions, an agent, and his move to Los Angeles.
Murray has since built a two-decade career in television and film, appearing in “Gilmore Girls,” “House of Wax,” and “Freakier Friday,” the recently released sequel to the 2003 comedy starring Lindsay Lohan and Jamie Lee Curtis.
