The 'Sin City' actress and her younger brother Joshua Alba open up on the scary Covid-19 battle that almost cost his life during Christmas holiday last year.
- Jul 1, 2021
AceShowbiz - Jessica Alba is determined to be "completely present" for her loved ones after almost losing her brother to Covid-19.
The "Sin City" star reveals Joshua Alba almost died at Christmas (25Dec20) after experiencing blood clot issues linked to his struggle with the coronavirus just weeks earlier.
"Josh had a pretty bad health scare with COVID," she shared during a joint appearance on "Sibling Revelry", the podcast hosted by brother and sister duo Oliver and Kate Hudson.
"I had COVID, and it lasted for about three weeks, it was pretty bad. I had every symptom...," her younger brother continued, explaining he made a few trips to the hospital emergency room before the worst appeared to be over by the end of November.
However, early on Christmas Day, he suddenly collapsed and began having fits, "It was 6.30 in the morning, we were opening gifts with my kids, and I said (to his wife), 'Nikki, I'm about to pass out,' and then I literally just fell over on the couch and started having seizures."
Jessica said, "He had a massive heart attack and he basically was out for like, 26 minutes."
Picking up the story, Joshua added, "I finally came to when I was getting out of the ambulance at the hospital, which they said, 'You shouldn't be out for that long,' kind of thing (sic).
"They found... pulmonary embolisms (blood clots in the lungs) in my chest. I still have them, I take blood thinners for it now, and it's messed me up. Honestly, I've been a mess since Christmas."
The 2020 health scare, which has also left the 38 year old with "brain fog" and panic attacks, made Jessica realise how "fragile" life was, and prompted her to reevaluate her life priorities.
She reflected, "You immediately go into, 'Nothing else matters in life than making sure that we have time.' Life instantly felt so fragile..."
"The doctors don't know how he is here. It just puts so much into perspective, so any kind of differences that we have or had, in the way that we think and exist in the world, we couldn't be more opposite in pretty much everything..., and I think this experience has brought us together in a way where I just want time with you... We don't know if we have tomorrow."
The siblings also recently lost their grandfather to COVID.
"Everything feels really delicate and fragile," Jessica said, "and there's a lot of things in life that I always cared about and put as a priority, but ultimately we only have the moment that we're in today, and just try to be completely present in this moment."
"It's like, we have eyes wide open that tomorrow isn't sure, and so if we're not living completely in the present moment of now and making the most of it, then what the hell are we doing?"
