Tracy Morgan: Hardest Part of Recovery is Loss of Friend
NEW YORK, June 1 (UPI) — Actor and comedian Tracy Morgan, in his first interview since he was critically injured in an accident last year, said the hardest part of his recovery is the loss of his friend and mentor, James “Jimmy Mack” McNair.
In a live interview Monday on Today, Morgan recalled the last show he did with McNair, a stand-up show in Delaware.
“I asked him to come with me the day before, and he said ‘I’ll be there, I love you, peace.’ We went and we did the show,” Morgan said. “I looked to the side and I see Jimmy standing there laughing and that was the last time I’ve seen him alive.”
After the June 7 show, the men and five friends were traveling on the New Jersey Turnpike, when a Wal-Mart tractor-trailer rear-ended their limousine, causing them to crash into several other cars.
Morgan spent two weeks in a coma before his fiancé, Megan Wollover, broke the news that Mack had not survived the accident.
“When I got home, it really hit me and everyday I would just watch the accident on Youtube and one day I came across his funeral on Youtube, and I lost it for about a week,” he told Today host Matt Lauer.
The interview was Morgan’s first public appearance since the accident.
The accident left Morgan, a former start of TV’s 30 Rock, with severe physical injuriesto his brain, legs, nose and ribs.
The hardest part, though, is not his physical recovery but the loss of his friend.
“Bones heal but the loss of my friend will never heal,” Morgan said.
Last week, Morgan and his attorney, Benedict P. Morelli, settled a lawsuit against Wal-Mart for an undisclosed amount.
“I’m happy that Wal-Mart stepped to the plate in a tremendous way and they took full responsibility,” Morgan said.
Morgan said he plans to return to comedy and acting once he is done healing.
“I love comedy. I’ll never stop loving her,” he said. “I love comedy and I can’t wait to get back to her, but right now my goal is just to heal and get better because I’m not 100 percent yet.”
