For some unknown reason, rap star Rita Wilson wasn’t the musical guest on husband Tom Hanks’s virtual episode of Saturday Night Live this past weekend, so Gayle King caught up with her on Tuesday’s CBS This Morning to hear about her recovery from coronavirus. As it turns out, when Wilson isn’t spitting bars, she’s spitting crucial public health truths that the president won’t. Wilson and Hanks were among the first celebrities to open up about contracting coronavirus, and Wilson describes the symptoms she had, which included “exhaustion, aches†a fever close to 102 degrees, loss of taste and smell, and “chills like I’ve never had before.†She says that Hanks’s symptoms were milder, and that among their close contacts, “family, our work team, no one has tested positive.†Perhaps most importantly though, Wilson talks candidly about being treated with chloroquine, cautioning that “we don’t really know if it’s helpful.†She says, “I don’t know if the drug worked or if it was just time for the fever to break,†and warns about its extreme side effects: “I was completely nauseous and I had vertigo. I could not walk and my muscles felt very weak.â€
On a more positive note, King also gushes to Wilson about her “Hip Hop Hooray†Naughty by Nature remix, and casually drops that she owns all four Rita Wilson albums. Wilson says that she posted the original video “as a brain exercise†to “see if I still remember the lyrics†while in quarantine, which doubled as an update on her health. Wilson also says that she and Hanks have donated their blood to coronavirus research, and they’re waiting to hear back if our antibodies will be helpful in developing a vaccine.†So there you have it: we just might have Hanks and Wilson to partially thank if a coronavirus vaccine is found.