Willie Nelson ‘begged to die’ during terrifying health battle - The Independent

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Willie Nelson has revealed that he twice begged his wife to “let [him] die” after contracting Covid-19, as he opened up about the severity of his illness and the role she played in his recovery.

The country music legend, now 93, caught the virus in 2022 and credited his wife, Annie, 70, with saving his life through her determination to nurse him back to health.

In an extract from his new autobiography, The Last Leaf: Reflections on Late-Life Creativity — and My Longest Love Affair, shared by People magazine, Nelson recalled the terrifying moment his symptoms first took hold on May 4: “Annie and I were sleeping in the bus when it hit me. The distance from the bed to the bathroom is less than 5 feet. But I couldn’t get there. I couldn’t breathe. Annie remembers.

He wrote that Annie told him: “I had the nebulizer on you, and a Q-tip up your nose to test for Covid-19. I got the oxygen going to keep you breathing, but it wasn’t working. You still couldn’t breathe.

“The Covid-19 test came up positive. I knew not to panic, but I also knew this was bad.

“Paxlovid had just come out, and I knew [musician] Mickey Raphael had a prescription, which he gave to us. By this time, you could breathe, but barely.

“We gave our drivers, Tony and Gates, the option to fly home, but they said no. They drove us back to Austin. In the back of the bus, you stayed isolated and grew sicker. I wasn’t sure you would make it. I alerted Dr. Greenwood that we were on our way and asked to have a mobile monoclonal antibody guy meet us at the cabin...

“I’d worked all this out for months... I knew there was a good chance you’d catch it. I knew I needed to be ready.

“I also knew that taking you to a hospital was not an option. You’d have no chance of privacy, and hospitals are hotbeds of deadly viruses. Anyway, we got home and carried you off the bus into our bedroom, which was already outfitted like a hospital. I knew that the Paxlovid would take another day to kick in and we’d have to wait till morning for the monoclonal antibodies.

“Meanwhile, you got sicker with every passing hour. Every labored breath caused you incredible pain. I wanted to do more, but I’d done all I could. I just had to sit there and watch you suffer. It was the worst thing I’ve ever had to do.”

Willie recalled feeling “excruciating pain in every cell” in his body and recounted the conversations he’d had with Annie about wanting to die.

He wrote: “Am I right in remembering that I said, ‘Annie, you need to let me go?’ ‘That’s just what you said.’ ‘But you wouldn’t let me’. ‘What I actually said was, “Willie, if you die, I’ll kill you.” And you said, “Don’t worry, I’ll be back in a minute.” You were thinking about reincarnation, but I didn’t want to hear about reincarnation. I wanted you to understand that I was not about to let you go.’ ‘And you didn’t.’

“‘We got through the night and in the morning the doctor was back with an IV infusion. He looked at you and said, “Mr. Nelson, I have to warn you: This medicine will either get you better or it will kill you.”

Annie admitted Willie’s illness was “two weeks of utter hell” and she had “never seen such pain”.

Asked if he asked her to let him die, Willie wrote that she replied: “Yup, twice. The whole thing was a nightmare.”