Regis To Undergo Bypass Surgery

Talk Show Host Was Experiencing Chest Pains, Shortness Of Breath

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NEW YORK, March 12, 2007 | by Amy Bonawitz

(CBS/AP)  Regis Philbin is having bypass surgery this week. He made the announcement on "Live With Regis and Kelly."

"Well, listen, I gotta tell you something. ... I had been feeling chest pains, you know, and, uh, shortness of breath and all those little symptoms that you hear about," Philbin, 75, told his TV audience. After a number of tests, doctors recommended bypass surgery.

Philbin said he was hoping to have angioplasty because "you know, you get in — bang, bang, bang — they blow it open and you leave the next day." But, he said, "there's some plaque in some arteries and I've got to get it cleaned out."

He's not looking forward to the surgery.

"Darn it, I don't want to do it," Philbin said. "Nobody wants to do it, I guess. And I had a second opinion, I did all those things, and so they're all in agreement that it should be the bypass. And so that's what I'm gonna do."

His co-host, Kelly Ripa, said she planned to give Philbin some special attention.

"My primary job will be, like it or not, get your pills ready — your sponge-bath nurse," she said.

Philbin quipped: "Why don't you give me a quick dip before I go?"

It was announced recently that Philbin will not return as host on the NBC reality show "America's Got Talent." "Dancing With The Stars" alum Jerry Springer will take over his duties when the second season begins this summer.

© MMVII, CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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