Mario Lopez Undergoes Surgery for July 4th Injury

Mario Lopez Jr. Had a successful ankle surgery this weekend, letting his followers know he was all right on Instagram.

Lopez posted a photo of himself lounging in a hospital bed, flashing his charming smile and a big thumbs up. The host hardly looked like he was in any trouble at all, aside from the hospital gown and bandages wrapped around his lower left leg.

“I came through,” Lopez wrote beneath the photo. He included the hashtag #achillessurgery, referring to the operation he underwent. The Extra host tore his Achilles tendon on Wednesday while sparring, according to another Instagram post at the time.

“Celebrating the 4th in the E.R.,” he wrote, along with a photo of himself giving a thumbs down. “Tore my achilles sparring. Ugh.. So frustrated. No boxing or jiujitsu for a while. Maybe God’s telling me to slow down… Bout to get hooked up with some good pain meds tho.”

After the surgery, Lopez’s post included another shot of his wife, Courtney, planting a kiss on his cheek. He also showed off a get-well card made for him by his son, Dominic.

Courtney posted her own encouraging message to Lopez, with the same photo of them together in the hospital.

“You got this babe,” she wrote. “I love you more than you could ever imagine.”

Lopez appeared to be in good spirits just before his surgery, as he posed for a video with a team of doctors and nurses that were taking care of him.

“So, I have to have major surgery tomorrow for my Achilles tendon,” he said. “These nice ladies are taking care of me.” They all smiled and waved, as Lopez kept them laughing. He joked that the doctor operating on his leg is “a little young,” but he was going to trust him anyway.

Lopez has been a staple of American TV since the late 1980s. After working his way into the television industry through guest appearances at a young age, he was cast as A.C. Slater in Saved by the Bell. He returned for that role late in Saved by the Bell: The College Years.

These days, Lopez is best known for Extra, where audiences see him every night of the week. He continues to host other shows as well, including MTV’s competition sensation America’s Best Dance Crew, and Fox’s The X Factor. In recent years, he has found a market in radio as well, hosting his own show and the Hot AC edition of the iHeartRadio Countdown.