Jimmy Kimmel’s baby boy, William ‘Billy’ Kimmel, is all smiles after undergoing a major health scare as a newborn.
The tough little tot underwent open-heart surgery to fix a rare congenital defect just days after his birth.
And on Thursday, the 49-year-old funnyman shared an update on Billy’s health with The Hollywood Reporter, revealing that his son is “doing great.”
“Young Billy made his first visit to our office today. He’s juggling. He’s translating Flaubert from French into English,” he joked. “No — he smiles. That’s pretty much it. He is very interested in ceiling fans. He likes those a lot. I could get him to pay the same amount for Netflix just to watch ceiling fans.”
However, he revealed that his little boy isn’t just yet out of the woods and will need to face two more open heart surgeries in his future.
“We would like to get them over with and not have to think about it all the time, but it could definitely be worse,” he said.
The update comes just months after the television personality announced news of his son’s welfare on his Emmy Award-winning show, Jimmy Kimmel Live!
Choking back tears, the 49-year-old told the very real and “scary” story of how his newborn son needed to undergo emergency open-heart surgery just days after his birth.
WATCH: Jimmy Kimmel talks about his son’s health battle. Post continues…
“A little over a week ago, on Friday, April 21st, my wife, Molly, gave birth to a baby boy. His name is William John Kimmel,” he said, struggling not to cry.
“We call him Billy. He was an easy delivery – only six pushes out. He appeared to be a normal, healthy baby until about three hours after he was born.”
Jimmy then went on to describe the fear he felt as his son underwent life-saving surgery.
“On Monday morning, Dr. Vaughn Starnes opened his chest and fixed one of the two defects in his heart,” Jimmy explained, in tears.
“He went in there with a scalpel and did some kind of magic that I couldn’t even begin to explain.”
“He opened the valve, and the operation was a success. It was the longest three hours of my life.”
Thankfully, it appears things are finally starting to look up for the young family.
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