Rita Wilson says she had 'extreme side effects' from controversial drug chloroquine during COVID-19 treatment

Suzy Byrne
Editor, Yahoo Entertainment
Yahoo Celebrity
April 14, 2020

Speaking with CBS This Morning’s Gayle King, the 63-year-old actress and singer said she’s now feeling “great” more than a month after testing positive in early March. But at the time of her illness, she started feeling "very tired ... extremely achy, uncomfortable (and) didn't want to be touched.” As those symptoms persisted, she also developed a fever, which rose to 102, and “chills like I’ve never had before.” She also lost her sense of taste and smell, but didn’t realize it until later.

Wilson, who was treated in Australia, said on day nine she was given the controversial drug chloroquine. (Chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine, both anti-malaria drugs, have been hyped by President Trump as miracle cures for COVID-19.)

“I know people have been talking about this drug, but I can only tell you that I don’t know if the drug worked or it was just time for the fever to break,” she said. “My fever did break, but the chloroquine had such extreme side effects. I was completely nauseous. I had vertigo. I could not walk and my muscles felt very weak.”

She added, “We have to be very considerate about this drug. We don't really know if it's safe in this case."

Wilson said Hanks had milder symptoms — his fever wasn’t as high, he did not lose his sense of taste or smell. “But it still took us the same time to get through it,” and the healthy couple returned home to L.A. in late March.

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