Bam Margera Says He Was “Pronounced Dead” After Contracting COVID and Suffering 5 Seizures During ICU Stay

Bam Margera is sharing the grisly details behind his December hospitalization after recovering and being released. The Jackass star, who was admitted to the ICU for COVID-19 late last year, revealed to his former co-star Steve-O that he had been battling the virus, plus seizures and pneumonia.

While appearing on Steve-O’s Wild Ride podcast yesterday (Jan. 5), Margera said he was “pronounced dead” in early December after contracting the virus.

“Basically, I was pronounced dead on Dec. 8,” Margera said. “I did not know that I had gnarly COVID and my body was shutting down. I went into four seizures, each one lasting 10 to 20 minutes. On the fourth one I bit my tongue so hard it was nearly fallen off. It got so swollen and puffy it wouldn’t fit in my mouth. I was drinking the infected blood which gave me pneumonia as well.”

While in the hospital, Margera said he had another seizure, marking his fifth, which was when he began to experience trouble breathing.

“I went to the hospital and had my fifth seizure and couldn’t breathe without a tube down my throat,” he told Steve-O. “I woke up five days later thinking I was there for just a couple hours. They were like, ‘Dude, you’ve been for nearly a week. We tried to take the tube out and you weren’t breathing on your own.’ So I spent eight days in there. When they took that tube out I felt like I sucked on Darth Vader’s dick.”

Steve-O told his guest he thought Margera could die when he first learned of his hospitalization.

“Seeing Bam is on a fucking ventilator, meaning he can’t breathe by himself … you’re in the ICU, intensive care unit, in critical but stable condition, I’m just thinking, oh my god. Like, this is it,” he said. “My first legitimate thought was, fucking Bam better not die, dude.”

Listen to Margera’s full Wild Ride interview in the video above.