A change in perspective. Ice-T revealed how his father-in-law, Steve Austin, has reversed his original viewpoint on the novel coronavirus after experiencing the deadly illness firsthand.
On Sunday, November 29, the 62-year-old gave an update on Austin’s COVID-19 battle by sharing a cautionary message with his Twitter followers.
“My father-in-law ‘Coco’s dad’ was a serious ‘No Masker.’ COVID hit him,” Ice-T tweeted alongside a pic of Austin wearing an oxygen mask. “Pneumonia in both lungs … 40 days in ICU close to death … Now he’s on Oxygen indefinitely. Ohhh he’s a Believer now … #COVIDisNotAGame.”
Ice-T revealed in June that the father of his wife, Coco Austin, was hospitalized in Arizona due to the coronavirus. Coco, 41, then gave an update on her “tough as an ox” father’s condition the following month and revealed that two additional family members had been infected.
“He is having trouble breathing and feels like he is being stabbed with pins throughout his body,” she wrote via Instagram in July. “For all the people that say it can’t happen to your family, think again. Sending happy thoughts to my father and all the families that are dealing with it. Also sending prayers to 2 of my aunts who also have covid. Seems they all got it at the same time.”
Later that month, the Law & Order: SVU star spoke with Jimmy Fallon about his father-in-law being a “no-masking type of dude” who was put on “his back” because of COVID-19. He additionally revealed that Steve’s lungs have been “damaged indefinitely” from the virus.
“There are still non-believers,” he said on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon at the time. “I’ve made it through so much in my life, I don’t want to die because of this — especially with a new daughter. I’m aware and I’m concerned and I’m cautious.”
After Coco’s dad returned home in August, the Ice Loves Coco alum candidly shared the “aftermath” of Steve’s health scare. “He is bound to an oxygen machine till who knows when but is very lucky,” she wrote via Instagram. “He said being in the hospital for a month was like jail … No windows No visitors and laying in one spot and not being able to walk around was getting to him … He also adds you could hear people moan in pain during the night and some people weren’t making it … So sad 
.”
Coco continued, “He lost 30 pounds in this time period, so my job is to plump him back up so he gains his natural muscle back and is back healthy LOL … it just feels great to see him in good spirits again … this whole thing has been so stressful.”
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