Ric Flair Hospitalized After ‘Very Serious’ Medical Event, Report Says

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5/16/2019

Updated:

5/16/2019

Longtime professional wrestler Ric Flair was hospitalized after a reportedly serious medical event.

TMZ reported that Flair, 70, was in Atlanta when he was taken to the hospital after an unspecified medical event. He was taken to the hospital’s emergency room.

Flair’s representative didn’t return a request for a comment. A source to the outlet that the condition is “very serious.”

Flair, a 16-time champion, had a health scare last year when he was placed in a medically induced coma and on life support for 10 days due to kidney failure and other health issues, according to reports.

Flair said he’s had a number of health issues stemming from his longtime issues with alcohol, according to ESPN.

“They told my kids that everything had shut down ... kidney failure, congestive heart failure, everything shut down,” Flair said at the time. His knack for partying and struggles with alcoholism have been well-documented over the years.

“When I started in the business in 1972, we drove 3,000 miles a week, we drank beer on the road … threw cans out the windows and all the stuff, no cops, it was just a way of life,” Flair told the network. “Then pretty soon, it was drinking a beer, getting to the hotel, drinking liquor.”

On a regular basis, he estimated that he had “between 3,700 and 4,000 calories” worth of alcohol and soda regularly. “It’d be like 20 drinks a day,” he added.

In 2017, the “Nature Boy” told People magazine that he vowed to never drink again.

“It scared the [expletive] out of me,” he told People at the time. “I never want to go through this again.”

“My daughter [Charlotte] told me that the doctor told her to go see me—that I wasn’t going to make it. I had no idea it was that bad. Wendy never told me,” he said, referring to his longtime girlfriend.

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Legendary comedian Freddie Starr at the British Comedy Awards at Fountain Studios in London, on Dec. 16, 2011. (Stuart Wilson/Getty Images)

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