Credit: NBC

Bill Hader Issues Heartbreaking Health Update And Fans Are Devastated

Bill Hader has shared some heartbreaking health news with devastated fans.

Hader has finally opened up about the real reason he was absent from Saturday Night Live‘s star-studded 50th anniversary celebration earlier this year.

He revealed that an ongoing health battle was the deciding factor – and not the ‘scheduling conflict’ his publicist initially claimed to Variety at the time.

After hearing the update, one fan penned: “I literally love Bill Hader so much I want to cry… I know exactly what it’s like to feel so limited by health… he is such a role model… I just want to hug him and thank him for helping me not feel as alone and weird.”

“It helps when celebrities open up about the kinds of suffering that lots of people go through. Bill Hader … I thank him for that,” another agreed.

During a candid appearance on Late Night With Seth Meyers, the beloved comedian and Barry star discussed how his health challenges have manifested in various physical ailments.

Hader appears to be someone who has struggled significantly behind the scenes despite his professional success.

When the SNL50 special aired in February, longtime fans immediately noticed Hader’s absence from the celebration.

At the time, his representative cited a ‘longstanding scheduling conflict,’ but Hader revealed to his former SNL colleague Seth Meyers that this was essentially a cover story.

“You were very open and honest after you left SNL, about the anxiety you had when you were working there,” Meyers said during Tuesday’s Late Night.

“And then, for the SNL 50th, I think people were obviously at first disappointed you weren’t coming, but that was the reason.”

The irony wasn’t lost on anyone when Hader explained that Andy Samberg had specifically called him to participate in a digital short about anxiety among SNL cast members.

“Andy called me and was like, ‘Hey, so we’re doing this short about how, you know, anxiety, everybody had anxiety,’” Hader recalled.

“When he told me about it, I was like, ‘I don’t know if I want to do that.’ He’s like, ‘Why?’ and I’m like, ‘Because I’m anxious!’”

Current SNL cast member Bowen Yang ultimately took Hader’s place in the anxiety sketch, which Hader praised as being ‘great.’

What emerged from Hader’s conversation with Meyers was a troubling pattern of physical health problems stemming from his anxiety and stress.

The actor recently battled shingles, which his doctor directly attributed to his anxiety levels.

“Yeah, from stress,” Hader confirmed when Meyers brought up his recent bout with shingles.

“I was like, ‘What causes this?’ and the guy was like ‘Anxiety! I know because you always talk about how you have anxiety. That’s probably why you had the shingles.’”

Hader described the painful reality of shingles, including a severe backache and what he called a ‘crazy rash.’

He joked that the condition should be renamed ‘fire blisters’ because ‘you don’t want blisters that feel like they have ants inside of them crawling out of your skin.’

The health revelations didn’t stop there.

Hader also disclosed that he missed the 2025 Golden Globes due to a serious eye condition that temporarily robbed him of his vision.

“My eye exploded,” Hader said with characteristic humor about the absurd situation. “I have vasculitis in the retina in my eye, and I lost vision in my ey,e and I had to get a shot in my eye.”

His girlfriend, comedian Ali Wong, attended the Golden Globes without him and had to mime an explosion by her eye to explain his absence to concerned friends and colleagues.

Meyers noted what he called Hader’s ‘relentless maladies,’ pointing out that anxiety-related health issues have been a consistent problem throughout Hader’s career.

Looking back at his eight-season run on SNL (2005-2013), Hader contrasted his anxiety-riddled experience with the seemingly effortless confidence of colleagues like Meyers and Amy Poehler.

“You and Poehler were just, like, ice in your veins,” he told Meyers. “You guys went out there, and I was, like, trembling, anxious.”

Hader has previously been open about experiencing panic attacks during his SNL tenure.

In a 2022 Hollywood Reporter interview, he detailed how he would retreat to a bathroom down the hall to have ‘full-blown panic attacks’ before performances, crying while trying to prepare for sketches.

“This voice would come on in my head of, like, ‘You f***ing a**hole, do you know how many people would kill for this? Dude, get your s**• together, come on,’” he previously revealed.

Despite his ongoing health challenges, Hader continues to work and create.

He successfully ran the acclaimed HBO series Barry for four seasons and will next voice the title character in the upcoming animated film The Cat in the Hat, set for release in February 2026.

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