‘Grey’s Anatomy’ Star Jake Borelli Opens up About Emergency Surgery

Grey’s Anatomy star Jake Borelli is recovering after a real-life emergency surgery.

The actor — who has played the role of surgical intern Levi Schmitt since Season 14 — faced a real-life medical emergency on Feb. 15 when he had to undergo an emergency appendectomy after spending the day filming.

Days after the actor announced the health scare on Instagram, Borelli opened up about his experience in a recent conversation with PopCulture.com, adding that he is recovering well after his first surgery ever.

“I’m healing up… I am off my ibuprofen and my Tylenol, which is great,” Borelli told PopCulture.com during a phone conversation on Monday, Feb. 25. “But yeah… it was very surreal, because we were filming on Friday, and I was literally filming in our fake hospital all day.”

Borelli revealed that the experience felt very strange given his role as a doctor on the long-running ABC series, but that he has been recovering nicely since getting his appendix removed.

“It’s the first surgery I’ve ever had, and it was the first time I’ve been to a hospital in that capacity since starting the show, so it was weird,” Borelli said.

“It was like I was in a weird alternate universe where I was the patient instead of the doctor, and very strange… in that way it was weird, I was like, ‘I don’t know my lines,’” he joked.

Borelli first announced his health scare on social media, sharing a photo of himself in a hospital bed on ahead of the Feb. 21 episode of Grey’s Anatomy.

“Sorry for being MIA…but if you thought art didn’t imitate life ENOUGH for me… after filming in our fake ER all day Friday, I was taken to the real ER for what turned out to be an emergency appendectomy,” he wrote on the caption of the post.

At the time, the actor revealed the hilarious fact that his doctor for the procedure was called Dr. Kim, the same name that his on-screen love interest — Dr. Nico Kim (Alex Landi) — has on the show.

“When I found out that was my surgeon’s name, I literally freaked out,” Borelli added. “‘That’s my boyfriend on the show.’ It was so weird.”

Despite the health scare, Borelli said at the time he is back at work filming upcoming episodes of the show.

The actor also recently celebrated the Santa Barbara Film Festival premiere of his new film, A Cohort of Guests, also starring Grey’s stars Kelly McCreary and Sarah Drew, and Station 19 star Danielle Savre.

According to IMDb, the Todd Sandler-directed film revolves around a group of friends enjoying a dinner party in one of the couple’s garden patio, until they are interrupted by an uninvited “guest.”

“People should keep an eye out for that [movie],” Borelli said. “It was really cool. And it’s a character that is completely opposite of Levi Schmitt, so, if you want to see something a little darker, a little more gritty, keep an eye out for A Cohort of Guests.”

Grey’s Anatomy airs Thursdays at 8 p.m. ET on ABC. Follow A Cohort of Guests on social media for screening updates.