Joshua Bassett Says He Almost Died Two Days After ‘drivers license’ Was Released
Joshua Bassett revealed he had a near-death experience in which he only had a 30 percent chance of survival.
On Thursday (June 24), GQ published an in-depth interview with the High School Musical: The Musical: The Series star in which he discussed the terrifying moment.
Back in January, just two days after his castmate Olivia Rodrigo released her smash hit song "drivers license," which fans believe is about her and Bassett's previous relationship, he “started getting very ill, and it kept getting worse."
"I thought it was, like, food poisoning or whatever. It got worse, it got worse, it got worse, it got worse," he recalled.
Bassett said he later experienced unimaginable pain that landed him in the hospital the same day his single "Lie Lie Lie" was released. At the hospital, he found out he was suffering from heart failure and septic shock, though he also noted that he is "sure stress had a part in it."
"[The doctors] told me that I had a 30 percent chance of survival," the singer-actor shared. "They told me that if I had not checked into the hospital within 12 hours, I would have been found [dead] in my apartment."
During the days following Rodrigo's single release, Bassett became a trending topic and received significant backlash, though neither party confirmed what happened in their relationship, but Bassett told GQ that he "didn't have any energy to be able to focus on anything but staying alive."
At the time, Bassett posted on his Instagram account that "according to the doc, I now have the medal for 'the sickest patient in the hospital.'" He didn't further elaborate on the cause of the medical emergency but did share that he had to undergo surgery.