Jimmy Kimmel Temporarily Leaves Hosting Duties As 7-Month-Old Son, Billy, Undergoes Heart Surgery
Jimmy Kimmel temporarily left ABC’s late-night show, Jimmy Kimmel Live, to the capable hands of “celebrity Samaritans” as he spends a week with his family, particularly his 7-month-old son, Billy who has undergone a scheduled and “successful” heart surgery, a new update revealed.
The 50-year-old late-night show host has made it clear that his family comes first as he bequeathed hosting duties to several guest hosts to be with his beloved son, Billy, during his planned heart surgery, the Hollywood Life reported.
Citing a Twitter post from Alex Weprin, Kimmel’s son had a heart surgery as planned on December 4, 2017, and that it was successful. The post also revealed a statement from ABC that listed down the name of temporary hosts, a.k.a. “celebrity Samaritans,” who will take over hosting duties for a week.
As scheduled, Jurassic World star Chris Pratt took the first turn on Monday, December 4, and will be followed by actress-comedian Tracee Ellis Ross on December 5. On Wednesday, December 6, How I Met Your Mother actor Neil Patrick Harris is taking the reins for Jimmy Kimmel Live! to be followed by The Heat actress Melissa McCarthy on December 7. Other details of this week’s schedule for the show appears in the Twitter post below.
Inbox: Jimmy Kimmel’s son Billy had heart surgery this morning (it was successful). “Jimmy Kimmel Live” will have guest hosts all week while he is with his family. pic.twitter.com/ldG0VKfCbP
— Alex Weprin (@alexweprin) December 5, 2017
According to Deadline, Jimmy Kimmel revealed on national television the challenges his family is facing. In May, he revealed that his then-newborn son had undergone an open heart surgery at the Children’s Hospital Los Angeles when he was only 3-days-old. Based on his narration of the experience, a Cedars-Sinai Medical Center nurse observed that then-3-hour-old baby Billy had a heart murmur and was slightly purple.
During the emotional message, he recalled how his son almost died. After going through a list of people he felt grateful for during the episode, he went on to rant about the GOP’s quest to end Obamacare.
“We were brought up to believe we live in the greatest country in the world. But until a few years ago, millions and millions of us had no access to health insurance at all,” he said.
Choking up, he went on to explain how Obamacare enabled people who had no means to get health insurance even with a pre-existing condition like Billy’s.
“If your baby is going to die, and it doesn’t have to, it should not matter how much money you make. I think that’s something, whether you’re Republican or a Democrat … we all agree on that, right?” he added.
“Whatever your party … we need to make sure people who are supposed to represent us, people who are meeting about this right now in Washington, understand that very clearly.”
To conclude his monologue, he scolded the GOP for treating the Americans’ health care as “football.”
“Let’s stop this nonsense. This isn’t football; there are no teams,” Kimmel declared.
“No parent should ever have to decide if can afford to save their child’s life. It just shouldn’t happen. Not here.”
Thankfully, both operations Jimmy Kimmel’s son underwent had been successful. According to Hollywood Life, Billy is better now and would only need to undergo a final heart surgery—which will be non-invasive—when he is much older.
