After comedian/actor, Tracy Morgan, was severely injured in the fatal car crash – involving a Walmart 18 wheeler, which claimed the life of his best friend, Jimmy Mack, in June of 2014- many wondered if he’d live, and is so, they definitely doubted that he’d be able to return to the style of funny he once delivered to us as “Hustle Man” on the “Martin” sitcom. Well fortunately, Tracy is back and better than ever, but that didn’t come without a price for him- severe pain, brain damage, an 8 day coma, blind for 6 days, cracked ribs, many broken bones in his face, having to learn how to walk and talk again, and almost killing himself when he was bed-ridden and recovering from his injuries.
Tracy sat down with Rolling Stone and took us through a wide array of emotions that range from his suicidal thoughts, to laughter, to his anger about comedic actor, Damon Wayans telling the world how much money Tracy received in his confidential settlement with Walmart.
This is what was reported via Rolling Stone:
At first, doctors weren’t sure he’d live, much less get back to any semblance of his old self. “We really kind of thought he wasn’t going to make it,” says wife, Megan Wollover. “We were praying and being hopeful, but we didn’t know what to say to the public.” The prognosis quickly improved. But then, Wollover adds, “everyone was more concerned with the brain injury – is he gonna be the same?”
Tracy Morgan with his wife, Megan and daughter, Maven
Losing what [Tracy Morgan] calls “my funny” meant losing everything – he was having nightmares about that prospect around the time 30 Rock ended, 18 months before the accident.
In the wake of Morgan’s injuries, it felt like his worst fears were coming true. “I said, ‘If my funny ever went away, I’d die. And I thought I was going to die for a long time. My thoughts – I was in a very dark place. I was sitting right here, contemplating suicide. I couldn’t walk.”
Morgan insisted on leaving the hospital early and continuing his rehabilitation at home. “You go to hospitals to fucking die,” he says. “If I got to go, I wanted to be in the house with my family.” For the first couple of weeks, he stayed in the second-floor bedroom, unable to navigate the stairs. “My wife heard all the screaming…She changed all the bedsheets when I sh*t on myself. She knows.”
SNL producer/creator, Lorne Michaels says Morgan was extremely emotional after the accident:
He made tearful phone calls to friends. “He was very, very emotional,” says Michaels. “He wanted to tell all the people he loved that he loved them.”
Morgan struggled with feelings of guilt, reminding himself that everyone in the car was there because of him. “Emotionally, it’s hard for me to deal with,” he says. “I asked everybody to be there that night. I have to live with that. But I had to forgive myself. I know Jimmy would want it like that.”
Tracy revealed that there was one song that he used to get him over his guilt and suicidal thoughts…this really surprised us:
[Morgan] cues up a song he’d play to soothe himself in his dark moments – which happens to be the…THEME FROM TAXI – and begins to weep. “I remember the days,” he murmurs. “I remember them days. Jesus.”
Morgan has zero desire to recover his memories of that night. “The past is nothing but a forest filled with horrors,” he says, gravely.
Then the interview took a bit of a turn when the topic of Tracy’s confidential Walmart settlement amount and Damon Wayans’ claims came up. Turn the page and check out the MASSIVE DOLLAR AMOUNT Damon claimed Tracy received from Walmart and how Tracy blasted Damon for that…
