Ric Flair Discusses How Close He Was To Death During Recent Scare

The life of the legendary Ric Flair has sure seen some twists and turns during 2017.

This summer, wrestling fans and wrestlers alike were glued to their computer screens with anxiety as they read about the health scare the “Nature Boy” was going through. Now, just a couple of months later, Flair appears to have made a full recovery and recently attended the world premiere of his upcoming ESPN 30 for 30 documentary.

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Flair recently sat down with Busted Open Radio for an interview and discussed his health crisis from over the summer.

“I had ten days of life support, brother, that would wake anybody up,” Flair said. “I’m just lucky I’m here, I just kind of take each day, I don’t take anything for granted anymore. They gave me a 20 percent chance of living and somehow I made (it).”

As we reported extensively on during the scare, Flair was hospitalized due to multiple health issues, including an intestinal blockage. He also had surgery to install an internal pacemaker. He had previously been using an external pacemaker.

Flair elaborated on how his years of drinking and partying hard on the road unfortunately made his situation worse.

“When I got out I only weighed 206 pounds, I lost 43 pounds. I couldn’t walk, I couldn’t even twist the top off a Gatorade bottle. I could stand on my legs, but I couldn’t walk, so I had to go to a rehab place for 20 days of physical rehab where they make you walk with a walker and then a cane and then you learn to walk by yourself,” he said. “That took a while, and then I couldn’t drive a car. I ate anything in the world, but couldn’t gain any weight because all the food I was consuming was going towards repairing internal tissue that was ruined because when I went into the hospital my kidneys failed, I had respiratory heart failure and I had pneumonia all at the same time. Brother, I don’t drink anymore… The doctor told me if I ever had a drink again, I wouldn’t make it through another operation like that.”

Flair talked about how not drinking has been an especially hard adjustment, noting he would usually have a drink by 3:00 in the afternoon or by 11:00 in the morning during his days on the road.

More: Ric Flair’s Daily Alcohol Consumption Will Boggle Your Mind

As far as exercise goes, though Flair has recovered nicely, he is not allowed to work out or do much physical activity at this point. He noted that restriction will probably last for about another month.

Flair also noted that he is presently weight in at 220 pounds and otherwise pretty much back to normal. He sees a doctor every other week while he continues to recover.

[H/T to Wrestling Inc. for the interview transcription.]