Will & Grace star hospitalized twice in one night with recurring 'heart issue'

Will & Grace star Sean Hayes recently had to be hospitalized twice in one night due to a recurring 'heart issue.'

The actor, 54, suffers from atrial fibrillation — often referred to as 'AFib' — which is a common yet serious heart condition that causes an abnormal heartbeat.

When AFib occurs, the upper chambers of the heart beat out of sync with the lower heart chambers, as per the Mayo Clinic.

This can lead to shortness of breath or dizziness or more serious side effects like blood clots, stroke or heart failure.

In an attempt to bring the heart back to a normal rhythm, medical professionals will use a defibrillator electrode to administer an electric shock to the chest.

And on the latest episode of his SmartLess podcast with co-host Will Arnett, it was revealed that Hayes required emergency medical care after his heart condition woke him in the middle of the night.

It was Arnett who made the admission after listening to guest Hugh Grant speak about his experience with 'jet-lag' and how exhausting flying has become for him at age 64.

'I can't do it anymore,' Grant said of the trek from his home in London to Los Angeles. 'I think that's another age thing. I woke up hours ago very, very hungry and felt like my heart is made of Play-Doh.' 

It was then that Arnett revealed Hayes' recent heart-related health scare.

'Hugh, you should know this that Sean, two, three nights ago, woke up in the middle of the night with a heart issue, drove himself to Cedars-Sinai [Medical Center]—didn't wake up his husband,' the 54-year-old comedian said.

Once Hayes made it to the hospital, the Cedars-Sinai team immediately 'brought the paddles out, they put him under [anesthesia]. They paddled them.'

After that, Arnett said that Hayes 'drove home.'

But an hour later, Hayes experienced the same 'heart issue' again and ended up driving himself back to the hospital. 

'An hour later, he woke up to use the bathroom again and drove himself back to Cedars and got paddled again,' Arnett revealed.

Hayes added: 'And then we had dinner that night.'

'So you're jet-lagged by comparison. And I'm not saying this to to make you feel bad …,' Arnett teased Grant, to which the Love Actually star replied: 'But no, you are and I just feel humiliated.'

Hayes has spoken candidly about his battle with AFib in the past.

While appearing on Jimmy Kimmel Live! in 2021, the star revealed that he regularly has to seek medical attention for the severe condition.

'I have AFib. So your heart beats [rapidly]. You feel like you're gonna die. So when I go to the ER … at Cedars-Sinai, I'm like Norm from Cheers, because I'm in there all the time,' he explained.

Having dealt with AFib for so many years, Hayes knows exactly what medics need to do to get his heart back on track.

'I know exactly what needs to be happening,' he said before relaying to the audience the spiel he typically gives hospital staff.

'"Look, this is how this gonna go. You're gonna give me propofol. I'm gonna go out, you're gonna go, 'Clear,' and I'm gonna go home,"' he recounted.

'And that's all this, because it snaps you back into regular rhythm.'

Hayes is no stranger to health scares.

He revealed to Ellen DeGeneres in 2017 that he once had to be rushed to the emergency room after experiencing 'excruciating pain in my stomach.'

Once in hospital, Hayes learned that his small intestine had somehow burst open — a health scare that's considered 'very rare.'

'I went to the ER and thank God I did. I had a very rare thing where my small intestine burst open, and it was poisoning my body,' Hayes told DeGeneres.

'And they went in there, and they clipped off the bad part and put it back together with like a chip clip,' he teased.

He said that he had to be put on 'so many drugs' that make you feel 'high out of your mind.'

Hayes became a household name in the late 90s and early 2000s while starring on the hit NBC sitcom Will & Grace.

The show focuses on the relationship between Will Truman (Eric McCormack), a gay lawyer, and his best friend Grace Adler (Debra Messing), a straight Jewish woman who runs an interior design firm.

On the show, Hayes portrays Jack McFarland, a gay actor who is Will's best friend.

Will & Grace originally aired on NBC for eight seasons from 1998-2006 before the network revived the show for three more seasons, which aired from 2017-2020.

Both the original run and revival resulted in the show winning 18 Primetime Emmy Awards and the show's cast earning rave reviews and several accolades for their performances.

For his portrayal of Jack McFarland, Hayes won one Primetime Emmy Award and four Screen Actors Guild ('SAG') Awards.