Prior to her hip replacement surgery last week, Patricia “Tan Mom” Krentcil revealed she had “lost count” of the hospital trips she’s made in an interview with The Blast while speaking about the pneumonia case that resulted in her temporarily being placed in a medically-induced coma. Krentcil is currently recovering from her surgery in a Tampa-area hospital after “weeks of immobility and pain,” her friend Adam Barta told the publication Monday, but the 51-year-old previously joked in June she has can’t even keep her medical emergencies straight.
“At this point I’ve been back so many times, even I’ve lost count,” she told the outlet. “My goal is to become the bionic woman at some point. I’ve got enough metal parts in me now to pull it off!”
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Krentcil first entered pop culture in 2012, having been arrested and charged with second-degree child endangerment after she allowed her then-5-year-old daughter to use a tanning bed, which resulted in severe burns all over the child’s body. While the dubbed “Tan Mom” ultimately pleaded not guilty to second-degree child endangerment, a grand jury later decided not to indict her, and she is currently pursuing a music career.
In June, Krentcil’s pneumonia diagnosis almost turned fatal, as she claims to have gone into cardiac arrest when doctors extracted fluid from her lungs, requiring her to be placed in a medically-induced coma.
“When I was in a coma it was so sad to not be able to laugh with my family, Adam [Barta], and my friends at The [Howard] Stern Show,” she told Us Weekly after regaining consciousness. “With everyone praying every day and never giving up, it worked. … This is a new chapter for Patricia Marie, and can’t wait to share my story with Howard and the world.”
Barta added at the time, “I talked with Patricia and she was in great spirits, laughing, and already ready to dive into business. The first thing she asked me was, ‘When is the new [‘Money Maka’] music video premiering?!’ We shot it on a private beach on the Gulf of Mexico before she fell ill.”
“She told me this has been a harrowing ordeal and is still a little foggy on some details,” he added. “We are asking for privacy and time for her to fully recover over the next couple weeks. However, we promise she will definitely be back one more time, and like a phoenix from the ashes, Patricia and I, along with our producer, Electropoint, are ready to take the music biz by storm!”
Photo credit: Bobby Bank/WireImage/Getty
