‘Two and a Half Men’ Star Conchata Ferrell Suffers Heart Attack

Two and a Half Men star Conchata Ferrell is fighting for her life after suffering a major heart attack while in the intensive care unit of the hospital, TMZ reported Thursday. The actress, who played the quick-witted Berta on the hit sitcom, first landed in the hospital in May after feeling ill, her husband Arnie told the outlet, which was related to an infection she battled back around December.

After being hospitalized, the actress spent four weeks in the ICU, where things quickly went south after just a couple of days. Ferrell suddenly went into cardiac arrest, her husband said, which lasted about 10 minutes. She has since been transported to a longterm care facility, which Ferrell’s husband described as a respiratory unit, where she remains on a respirator and dialysis. The actress is now stable and semi-conscious, her husband said, meaning she is aware of her surroundings, but can’t talk or communicate.

This has been a difficult time for Arnie, who said he has been unable to visit her due to the facility’s policy on visitors amid the coronavirus pandemic. He told TMZ, “It’s going to be a while before there’s any recovery. It’s all neurological. There’s nothing we can do to speed it up the process. We are hoping for the best.”

Ferrell’s health scare kicked off in December when her feelings of being weak and frail turned out to be a kidney infection that spread and contaminated her blood. The recovery was painful and left Ferrell bedridden as she worked with nurses doing physical therapy until she could get back on her feet.

Ferrell came to television work after finding success on the stage, where she earned acclaim, as well as a Drama Desk Award and a Theater World Award for her work in The Sea Horse and Lanford Wilson’s The Hot l Baltimore. She then became a breakout star of Two and a Half Men as Charlie Sheen’s housekeeper, who was quick to clap back at his ridiculous antics. She told the AV Club of her character in 2014, “I love playing women who have the nerve to do things that I don’t have the nerve to do, and Berta is certainly one of those. … She’s that person I wish I could be, and someone I think all of us kind of wish we could be: someone who can just say what’s on her mind and not worry about it.”