Frightening new details about Chevy Chase’s 2021 health scare are emerging. In a new documentary, the comedian’s family members say he spent eight days in a coma following heart failure.
Jayni Chase, Chevy’s wife, says in the doc I’m Chevy Chase and You’re Not — airing on CNN on Thursday, January 1, 2026, at 8/7c — that Chevy went to the hospital after sensing something wrong, per Entertainment Weekly. But when the National Lampoon’s Vacation star got to the emergency room, his heart stopped.
“During those years he was drinking, he got cardiomyopathy,” Jayni adds, explaining that Chevy’s weakened heart muscles couldn’t pump his blood properly.
At the hospital, Chevy was put into a medically-induced coma which ultimately lasted eight days, his longtime friend Peter Aaron says in the doc.
“The doctor had warned us we might not get him back: ‘We don’t know how present he’ll be. Prepare yourselves for the worst,’” Caley Chase, one of Chevy’s daughters, says. “He woke up, all he could do was use his voice.”
Caley was relieved, however, when Chevy made a “That’s what she said” joke regarding a comment from a nurse.
“He has basically come back from the dead,” Caley says in the doc.
Despite his recovery, however, Chevy suffers from memory gaps stemming from that 2021 episode, the documentary reveals.
Chevy’s hospitalization made headlines at the time, but he kept the severity of his condition private. In a statement after returning to his Westchester, New York, home, the Community alum told Page Six, “I can only say how happy I am to now be back with my family. I’m feeling good. I was in the hospital five weeks. A heart issue. So, for now, I’m around the house. Not going anywhere.”
I’m Chevy Chase and You’re Not follows the highs and lows of Chevy’s early career — including his rise from Saturday Night Live star to box-office royalty — and latter years — including his reputation in Hollywood for being a difficult collaborator.
“I’ve always loved a challenge, and Chevy certainly offered one,” director Marina Zenovich said in a CNN press release. “I wanted to understand the real person behind the guarded, conflicted man we’ve often seen on camera. Beneath the bravado, I found someone deeply human, with layers of humor and emotion that make him far more complex than his public persona may suggest.”
I’m Chevy Chase and You’re Not, TV Premiere, Thursday, January 1, 2026, 8/7c, CNN
