Joshua Bassett has come forward to address the “why” behind his January hospitalization, revealing he suffered from septic shock and heart failure.
The High School Musical: The Musical: The Series actor, 20, opened up to GQ about his health condition this past week and even addressed rumors about co-star Olivia Rodrigo.
“[I] started getting very ill, and it kept getting worse,” Bassett said. “I thought it was, like, food poisoning or whatever. It got worse, it got worse, it got worse, it got worse.”
It was then that Bassett was hospitalized after experiencing “unimaginable pain.” He was admitted on Jan. 14, a few days after his Rodrigo released “Drivers License.”
“[The doctors] told me that I had a 30 percent chance of survival,” he said of the severity of the diagnosis. “They told me that if I had not checked into the hospital within 12 hours, I would have been found [dead] in my apartment.”
It was during this same time rumors were swirling around Basset that Rodrigo wrote “Drivers License” about him.
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Bassett told GQ he didn’t take it to heart as he “didn’t have any energy to be able to focus on anything but staying alive.”
The world first witnessed Bassett’s health issues on Jan. 14 – the same day his single “Lie Lie Lie” dropped – when he posted a video of himself on Instagram in a hospital gown.
“Welp… not the first place I assumed I’d be on my ‘Lie Lie Lie’ release day… the ER!!” he wrote in the caption. “After an unknown, uncomfortable feeling turned into, times 10, the worst pain of my life, I figured I’d just try to sleep. After multiple, very very ugly days and nights, I had no choice today but be taken to the hospital,’ he admitting, adding how the doctors coined him, “the sickest patient in the hospital.”
A few days later, Bassett spoke on his recovery after undergoing emergency surgery and reassured all he was finally, in good health. Also in his GQ interview, Bassett spoke on his recent coming out as a member of the LGBTQ+ community. “I stood behind every word that I said,” he recalled, of an Instagram clip he posted last month.
Bassett revealed it gave him “an opportunity to say something that I believe in,” and that he is “at peace” with his own sexuality.
“Even if there are consequences, I would much rather deal with consequences and live my truth than live in fear,” Bassett said.
And when it comes to the pressure often felt by those who are still deciding on their sexuality, he says: “There are plenty of letters in the alphabet … why bother rushing to a conclusion?” he said.
“Sometimes your letter changes, sometimes you try a different one, other times you realize you’re not what you thought you were, or maybe you always knew. All of these can be true. I’m happy to be a part of the LGBTQ+ community because they embrace all,” Bassett continued. “Don’t let anyone tell you love isn’t love. They’re the ones who probably need it the most.”
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