Valerie Harper Speaks Out After Health Scare: "I Am Not, Nor Have I Been, in a Coma"

The actress was hospitalized earlier this week

By Corinne Heller Aug 01, 2015 3:26 PMTags
Valerie HarperDesiree Navarro/FilmMagic

Valerie Harper is setting the record straight about her heath—and she's cracking jokes!

The 75-year-old Mary Tyler Moore Show and Rhoda alum was rushed to a hospital on Wednesday after falling unconscious before a performance of her musical Nice Work If You Can Get It at the Ogunquit Playhouse in Maine. She was conscious when she arrived at the medical center, fire department officials had said, and released on Friday morning. An unconfirmed report had said that while hospitalized, Harper had been in a coma.

"I am happy to report I am not, nor have I been, in a coma," read a message posted on the actress' Facebook page on Friday night. "As anyone who has taken strong medication knows, it doesn't always agree with you, even with me as this experience proves. I am confronting these hurdles with my usual enthusiasm and love of life. Much love, Valerie."

"P.S.. But I must confess that the highlight of this ordeal came when I was escorted by two handsome young men and a pilot, in a medivac helicopter, as the full moon lit the sky," she added. "Talk about movie magic!!!"

The theater had also released a statement on Friday clarifying Harper's condition amid concerns from fans over the coma report.

"There have been conflicting reports in the media regarding Valerie Harper's condition after being admitted to the hospital Wednesday evening prior to going on stage at the Ogunquit Playhouse," the statement read. "Executive Artistic Director Bradford Kenney has been in direct communication with Valerie's family from the beginning and can report that Valerie is not, and has never been, in a coma."

Harper had been performing the role of Millicent Winter in the play. The Ogunquit Playhouse announced on Saturday that actress Brenda Vaccaro will take over the part on Aug. 4.

"Valerie is feeling great right now and we want her to continue to rest and to enjoy her family," Kenney.said in a statement to E! News. "After discussing with them, we decided that we wanted to relieve her of any pressure of having to return to the show, which only runs for two more weeks."

In January 2013, Harper revealed she had been diagnosed with terminal brain cancer and that doctors told her she had as little as three months to live. In August of that year, one of her physicians said the actress' disease was "pretty close to a remission." That fall, Harper competed on Dancing With the Stars.

"I'm doing very well," the actress said on NBC's Today show in April 2014. "The treatment that my doctors...have me on is working."

"I was suposed to be gone before last Easter," she added. "What I have is incurable and terminal but guess what? Not today."

(E! and NBC are part of the NBCUniversal family.)

Watch: Valerie Harper Upbeat After Diagnosis