Rachel Maddow revealed her longtime partner Susan Mikula got so sick with COVID-19, they thought “it might kill her.”
The MSNBC anchor got personal Thursday night during a live broadcast from her home, calling Mikula, 62, the “center of my universe” and recalling the impact of Mikula’s positive coronavirus diagnosis two weeks ago.
“Susan has been sick with COVID these past couple of weeks and at one point we really thought there was a possibility that it might kill her, and that’s why I’ve been away,” Maddow said, explaining her recent absence from TV.
Maddow, 47, said she’s been testing negative for the bug but has been in quarantine.
“She’s gotten sicker and sicker, while I tried to care for her while still staying physically apart from her,” Maddow said of her partner, an artist and photographer, of 21 years. “And the bottom line is that she’s going to be fine, she is recovering, she’s still sick but she’s going to be OK.”
The journalist then issued a desperate plea to Americans to take the disease seriously this holiday season.
“Whatever you have calculated into your life as acceptable risk, as inevitable risk, something you’re willing to go through in terms of this virus because statistically … probably it’ll be fine for you and your loved ones, I’m just here to tell you to recalibrate that,” she said.
“Frankly, the country needs you to recalibrate that because broadly speaking, there’s no room for you in the hospital anymore.”
Maddow begged her viewers to “do whatever you can to keep from getting it,” which includes rethinking Thanksgiving plans.
“For Thanksgiving next week, you really are just going to have it at home without people coming over,” she said. “And yeah, that’s going to suck, but that’s going to suck so much less than you or somebody getting this and getting sick. Trust me.”