While performing in Tempe, Arizona, on Saturday night, Heather McDonald fainted and was rushed to the hospital.
“So I’m in the emergency room. I look weird. I’m so so so so sorry,” the comedian, 51, said in a video taken from the hospital bed and posted to her Instagram Stories.
“I passed out on stage. I got up, I did one joke and I felt so dizzy.”
McDonald then pointed to her eye, which appeared to be slightly bruised and swollen,
“You can see my eye, I fell on my eye,” she explained. “I cannot believe this happened. I feel so terrible that they had to tell everyone to leave and then cancel the second show.”
She ended her message by saying “Tempe, I will be back. I’ve never, ever fainted in my life.” After cracking her second joke of the night, McDonald fainted, TMZ originally reported.
Just seconds before she fell, she boasted, “I’m vaxxed, double vaxxed, boosted and flu shot and shingle shot and haven’t gotten COVID and Jesus loves me most.”
Heather claims to have had a cat scan and other examinations, but it’s not yet apparent what induced her to collapse. She complains that her headaches and that she’s exhausted.
It was reported by eyewitnesses that members of the audience originally believed she was acting, but it soon became evident she needed medical attention. Before the paramedics came, two audience members, an EMT and a nurse went on to the platform to offer first aid.
Heather McDonald was halfway into her second show of a three-day event in Arizona. She’s scheduled to perform in Los Angeles in the coming weeks.
A McDonald’s spokesperson didn’t initially reply to Page Six’s plea for a statement.
Who is Heather McDonald?
A multi-talented entertainer and novelist, Heather Ann McDonald was born on June 14, 1970, in Los Angeles, California. She earned her name by her performance on Chelsea Lately. With eight writers and frequent segments, she was among the show’s most prominent members of the cast Following the success of Chelsea Lately, McDonald authored and starred in its sequel dubbed After Lately.
She also hosts the pop culture podcast called “Juicy Scoop with Heather McDonald.” In 2010, her debut book, a memoir of her undergraduate years, was on the New York Times bestseller list.
McDonald started composing with Keenan Ivory Wayans in the late 1990s. She was a member of MTV’s Lyricist Lounge in 2001 and 2002. She was one of Frasier’s numerous blind dates on the show.
It was her Los Angeles stand-up comedy performances when McDonald first found fame. A few of the Wayans Brothers’ films included her work as a writer and performer. When Chelsea Lately first aired in 2007, she served as one of the show’s regular writers and panelists.
Her first book titled You’ll Never Blue Ball in This Town Again: One Woman’s Painfully Funny Quest to Give It Up came out in 2010 and become a mainstay of The New York Times Best-Seller List.
The book focuses on her time at the University of Southern California, when she was a member of a sorority. In 2013, My Inappropriate Life, McDonald’s second memoir, was published.