Jimmy Kimmel has been making people laugh for a very long time, and has amassed quite the net worth. He not only hosts his own late night show Jimmy Kimmel Live, he has even hosted the Academy Awards. His accomplishments are nothing short of impressive.
However, many still don't know that Kimmel was diagnosed with narcolepsy years ago. The rare sleep disorder makes people very drowsy during the day. Those with this condition can fall asleep suddenly and find it hard to stay awake for long periods of time.
Kimmel has been very open about his narcolepsy and once wrote about his diagnosis 20 years ago.
Jimmy Kimmel Opens Up About His Narcolepsy Diagnosis With A Sense Of Humor
In a 2003 essay Kimmel penned for Esquire, he opened up about his narcolepsy diagnosis. He discussed his condition with honesty and his trademark sense of humor.
"Truth be told, I'd rather have narcolepsy than not have it," he wrote. "When I get on a flight to Vegas, I'll fall asleep before the plane takes off and wake up after it's landed. I'm always very close to sleep."
Kimmel explained the moment he first became aware something was wrong. He wrote that "every afternoon between three and six" he would "get very tired for no reason."
"I would doze off in meetings, watching TV, even driving," Kimmel wrote. "You know how when you're regular tired, your whole body is tired? With narcolepsy, just the inside of your head is tired. It's like somebody's gently sitting on your brain. You have almost no focus. All you're thinking about is not falling asleep."
Kimmel said that it started to become a problem when he was emceeing the game show Win Ben Stein's Money. He revealed that he fell asleep during the show a few times.
"I would sit on the safe over to the side and just sort of doze off. But that was probably a combination of the narcolepsy and Ben's voice," he joked.
Jimmy Kimmel Revealed This Close Call He Had While Driving Before He Was Diagnosed
Kimmel would soon realize his condition was no laughing matter. He wrote that his closest call came while driving on the freeway in bumper-to-bumper traffic.
"My head was diving, then jerking back up. All of a sudden, this loud voice over a megaphone says, 'Are you awake enough to drive that vehicle?' And I practically jumped out of my skin. It was the police, one lane over."
Still, Kimmel just figured he wasn't getting enough sleep. He would drink gallons of iced tea in order to get himself through the afternoon. Then, Kimmel went to see a doctor.
"When I told him how much iced tea I drank, he said, 'What?!' He decided I was self-medicating, and he prescribed these pills called Provigil."
Kimmel explained that his case isn't a particularly severe one.
"I have a pretty mild case with no other symptoms. Some narcoleptics experience cataplexy, which is a limpness in the arms and legs. I don't have that. I'd like to, though. It sounds great," he joked.
He added, "I've never used my narcolepsy in my work, though I do have a dream to someday use up an entire hour of television time by sleeping. Have I been approached to be the public face of narcolepsy? No, nobody wants me associated with their groups. I hope that changes, though. I would like to be to narcolepsy what Camille Grammer is to irritable-bowel syndrome."
When Kelly Ripa was a guest on Jimmy Kimmel Live, she joked that her husband, Mark Consuelos, might have the same condition.
"I think he has Narcolepsy… but I call it 'Markolepsy. He's never been diagnosed. That would require him going to a doctor to seek treatment."
Jimmy Kimmel's Ex-Girlfriend Sarah Silverman Questions His Diagnosis
During an appearance on Watch What Happens Live, Kimmel's ex Sarah Silverman was asked by Andy Cohen about Kimmel's narcolepsy. Silverman said that she wasn't entirely convinced he actually suffered from the condition.
"I personally don't think Jimmy was ever narcoleptic. His doctor did say he was narcoleptic and basically put him on basically the Limitless drug," she said. "He goes, 'I'm narcoleptic! I went to the doctor and I told him I fall asleep every day at like 3:00.' I was like, 'Yeah, everybody does! It's an hour and a half after lunch!'"
When Kimmel appeared on the show, he told Cohen that it took time before the two could become friends after their breakup.
"I would say that it took some time, definitely," Kimmel said. "It definitely took some time. It was never like where we didn’t like each other, hated each other or anything like that. But it definitely took some time to be comfortable enough to be friends again."
The two eventually did become good friends, however. Their friendship was comfortable enough for Silverman to appear on Kimmel's show in 2018 and joke about her love life.
"What’s going on with me dating wise? I’m waiting for this tryst with you to be over! I mean, OK, Molly’s cute. She’s bright, she’s funny, she’s blonde, whatever, but come on!" she joked. "It’s not fair. She gets new woke Jimmy. I had Man Show Jimmy."
