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REBA Actor Reunites With Co-Stars on Screen After Stroke
By Movieguide® Contributor
Seven years ago, actor Christopher Rich suffered a massive stroke, and while in the hospital, he also was diagnosed with a traumatic brain injury. He’s finally making his way back to the screen.
“I’ve basically taken the last decade off, and if anybody was going to drag me out of the dark corner of the closet, it would be the redhead,” recently told Entertainment Tonight, referring to Reba McEntire.
Rich played McEntire’s ex-husband on the beloved show REBA. Now, he’s joining her again for an episode of the actress’ new sitcom HAPPY’S PLACE.
He will play a “local tattoo artist with a twisted sense of humor about the fact that he’s had a stroke and can’t use his left hand,” Fox News Digital reported.
“It’s great to be able to be a disabled person and play a disabled person,” Rich told US Weekly. “I’m hoping that when some of this gets out there, that people that I’ve worked with in the past are going to say, ‘OK, let’s bring him back. We can work with him.’”
READ MORE: HAPPY’S PLACE JUST ADDED ANOTHER REBA FACE
“After my stroke and having a brain injury, it is like I got hit with an atomic bomb. So it all gets traumatized, and it is a hard reset,” he continued “After I finally got out of the hospital, I was moving around again. Then I threw a bunch of blood clots and ended up in the hospital with lung embolisms and debris on my heart. After surviving all of that crap, I’m feeling really, really good.”
Rich is grateful for the opportunity to reunite with his former co-stars and also dip his feet back into acting.
“I needed some place where I could feel safe to really try and trot this broken body out again and they made the place,” the actor said.
“I feel so bizarre recovering from this stroke thing that I didn’t even want to go out of my house for a lot of the time, but, you know, they’ve got me back out,” he said of McEntire, Melissa Peterman, and McEntire’s boyfriend and co-star Rex Linn. “They would invite me to parties and reunion things, football games, yeah. I spent a lot of time at her and Rex’s place watching the Longhorns.”
READ MORE: IS A REBA REBOOT IN THE WORKS? NOT QUITE, BUT THIS BLOOPER GETS CLOSE
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