Rachel Maddow knows the severity of coronavirus all too well as her longtime partner, Susan Mikula, had a near-fatal battle with the illness.
“Susan has been sick with COVID these past couple of weeks. And at one point, we really thought that there was a possibility that it might kill her. And that’s why I’ve been away,” the MSNBC anchor, 47, said while returning to her hosting duties remotely on Thursday, November 19. “Susan tested positive two weeks ago, we separated from each other that day because I tested negative … So, she and I have both been alone since then.”
Maddow continued, “She had gotten sicker and sicker, while I tried to care for her while still staying physically apart from her. And the bottom line is that she’s gonna be fine. She is recovering. She’s still sick, but she’s gonna be OK and we’re not scared anymore like we were.”
The Rachel Maddow Show host said she “would have moved mountains for it to have been me who was sick” instead of Mikula, whom she referred to as “the center of my universe.” She then urged for viewers to rethink their Thanksgiving plans this year to prevent further spread of the virus.
“Whatever you have calculated into your life as acceptable risk, as inevitable risk, something you’re willing to go through in terms of this virus because statistically … probably, it’ll be fine for you and your loved ones, I’m just here to tell you to recalibrate that,” she explained. “What you need to know is that whoever is the most important person in your life — whoever you most love and most care for and most cherish in the world — that’s the person who you may lose.”
The political commentator noted that Thanksgiving “is going to suck” this year, and she advised fans to “trust” her when she says it will “suck so much less than you or somebody in your family getting this and getting sick.”
Maddow and Mikula, 62, have been together for more than 21 years. The couple met in 1999 when the photographer hired the broadcaster to do yardwork for her, and they have since described the encounter as love at first sight. According to HuffPost, the duo had their first date at an event hosted by the National Rifle Association called Ladies Day on the Range.
On November 6, the TV journalist revealed she would be self-quarantining from home after a “close contact” of hers tested positive for COVID-19. Maddow said she would remain at home until “it’s safe for me to be back at work without putting anyone at risk.”
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