Alec Baldwin feared Lyme disease would kill him.
Alec Baldwin
The 59-year-old actor rarely speaks about his battle with the condition -
which is passed on to humans by infected ticks - but opened up about the debilitating illness over the weekend, but admitted every flare up he's had hasn't been as bad as the first.
Speaking at the Bay Area Lyme Foundation LymAid benefit, which took place in California on Sunday (21.05.17), he said: "They had me hiding in the bushes over there at a Lyme disease benefit.
"I have ticks all over me. I'm joking.
"I got the classic Lyme disease (symptoms) for each successive summer, for five years, every August, like this black lung, flu-like symptoms, sweating to death in my bed. The first round [was the worst], and then it diminished, at least that's how I perceived it.
"The first time was the worst of all. And I really thought this is it, I'm not going to live. I was alone, I wasn't married at the time, I was divorced from my first wife. I was lying in bed saying, 'I'm going to die of Lyme disease,' in my bed and 'I hope someone finds me and I'm not here for too long.'"
The 'Saturday Night Live' star - who believes he contracted the disease 17 years ago - admitted he and his wife Hilaria constantly check their children Carmen, three, Rafael, two, and eight-month-old Leonardo for tick bites but wishes they didn't have to.
Alec - who also has 21-year-old daughter Ireland with ex-wife Kim Basinger - said: "I want my kids to grow up riding horses and bikes and enjoying themselves every day and not have to spend every day with us going over them with a magnifying glass to make sure they don't have any ticks on their body or their dogs, but that is part of the lifestyle of where I live."
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