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Jerry Lewis Works, Rehabs
Jerry Lewis is swimming, walking the track and taking meetings. Just another day in rehab.
The 77-year-old comedy legend has checked into an undisclosed Las Vegas facility in order to "wean" himself from a steroid prescribed to combat lung disease, a longtime associate said Friday.
"He's fine," Candi Cazau, spokeswoman for the Orleans Hotel's showroom, the Vegas venue where Lewis signed a 20-year contract in 2000. "He's not hospitalized. He's in rehab."
Lewis admitted himself around October 13, months after doctors told the original Nutty Professor star that his lungs, compromised by pulmonary fibrosis, had healed enough that he no longer needed to take prednisone, a steroid used to combat the inflammatory respiratory disease.
But, according to Cazau, stopping prednisone is easier said by doctors than done by patients.
"You go into mood swings. Prednisone is notorious for giving you these uncontrollable mood swings," Cazau said.
Lewis' attempts to get off the steroid were hampered by his work schedule, Cazau said. In the end, the funnyman opted for rehab. "It wasn't the doctors, this all came from Jerry," Cazau said.
"He's turned his hospital room into a condo," she said. "He's taking meetings. He's working."
Lewis' stay is expected to be a lengthy one--Cazau doesn't expect him out until March.
A call to Lewis' manager was not returned Friday.
In addition to breaking the prednisone bond, Lewis is building back up muscle and lung strength, said Cazau, who formerly produced the entertainer's annual Labor Day telethon for Canada.
He's also losing the bloat that the prednisone packed onto his frame and face. By one estimate, the steroid regimen added 50 pounds, distorting his features.
Cazau said she last saw Lewis a few weeks ago. He'd dropped 27 pounds, as well as some of the puffiness in the face, she said.
"He's starting to look like Jerry Lewis," Cazau said. "His goal is the beginning of March to put on a tux [that he wore] when he 180 pounds and come over to the [showroom] and put on a show."
No date for that projected Lewis performance has been set. Under contract to the Orleans until the age of 94, Lewis played but a handful of dates at the casino until pulmonary fibrosis forced him to curtail his schedule.
In the 1960s, Lewis suffered a back injury that led to a lengthy addiction to prescription painkillers. In recent years, his health has been battered by a variety of ailments, including viral meningitis. Last year, he collapsed backstage at a theater in London.
Lewis bounced back before, and he'll make it through rehab and back onto stage this time, too, Cazau promised.
"He'll do it," Cazau said. "He's determined."
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