‘Mortality is the real deal’

Ted Danson is opening up about a recent health scare, and how it changed his perspective on health and life.

Though the The Man on the Inside actor says he is “totally fine” now, it was a “humbling” experience that also made him adopt new, healthier habits.

Speaking with Valerie Bertinelli on his podcast Where Everybody Knows Your Name, the 78-year-old actor explained how the medical experience made him think about his own mortality. “I had a bit of a health scare,” he revealed, noting: “I’m totally fine, but it was like, ‘Oh, that’s real.'”

“It was humbling,” he confessed, adding: “Mortality is the real deal, you know. It’s not just a rumor. Ted Danson doesn’t get a free pass. Love his work, but…”

Though he did not disclose what the health woe was, he did say it came as a shock, as when it comes to his health routine and habits, he “hadn’t [expletive] up in some way.”

“It was very humbling and calming, and I’m fine,” he maintained, further sharing that in fact: “I think it was the best thing that could have happened to me, and I’m doing some things differently.”

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Among the health-minded habits that Ted has adopted has been meditation, he said, revealing that he is now trying to meditate twice a day with his wife Mary Steenburgen.

“What it’s done for me, the biggest gift of all: You can be curious about other people,” he said about the practice, adding: “You can listen, you can be supportive, caring, you can witness them. And I do believe that the rest of my life is to be curious and listen. That’s the best thing I can offer.”

Ted and Mary tied the knot in 1995, when he was 48 and she was 42. He confessed to NPR in a 2024 interview that he “didn’t really grow up emotionally until I was in my 40s,” which is when he began doing important, introspective work.

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“I started to work on myself very seriously around that time. I went to clinics and a psychologist and a mentor. I worked very hard to not be that person who hid his emotions and left out the back door,” he shared at the time.

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His admission came after he was asked whether he had been a rebellious teenager, to which he said: “I brought my parents to their knees when I was 45,” joking he was rebellious past his teens, and seemingly referring to when both his costly divorce from second wife Casey Coates and his infamous affair with Whoopi Goldberg became instant tabloid fodder.

“That was all kind of messily in the press, and my poor parents were going, ‘What?'” he recalled, noting: “The press sounded horrible. But the work underneath the press was invaluable. I’m very glad for that time, even though it was messy — very messy,” and that despite the mess, had he done things differently, he wouldn’t have met Mary.