Kenan Thompson is opening up about a recent health diagnosis after “suffering in silence” for years.
The comedian-actor, 46, who has been a castmember of Saturday Night Live for more than two decades, recently told People magazine that he first started experiencing painful heartburn, specifically after eating acidic foods, two years ago, so much so that it was impacting his SNL workdays.
“I noticed that I would get hoarse a lot easier when I’m doing the show. Losing my voice quicker, but also uncomfortable sleepless nights because I’m burping up acid, just kind of hiccuping all night,” Thompson explained. “And that can definitely add more stress to an already stressful kind of environment doing a live show like that. So all of those factors, I was like, whatever, I’ll get over it. But it just started to pile up.”
The Good Burger 2 star said he tried to take over-the-counter medications, but that it “got to a point where that didn’t work anymore.”
“That’s when it got serious,” he added. “It was a suffering-in-silence situation. I don’t know if I was necessarily embarrassed to talk to a doctor — I just didn’t know if I needed to.”
After Thompson’s symptoms reached their “most extreme” point in early 2024, that’s when he decided to visit a doctor and was immediately diagnosed with Gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD). It occurs when “stomach acid repeatedly flows back up into the tube connecting the mouth and stomach, called the esophagus,” according to the Mayo Clinic. “This backwash is known as acid reflux.”
“I didn’t know there was a real medical term for it,” Thompson admitted, noting that he “felt relief pretty immediately” once his doctor prescribed him Voquezna, a potassium competitive acid blocker, to treat the chronic condition.
Thompson, who has partnered with Phathom Pharmaceuticals for the GERD IS NO JOKE campaign to raise awareness about GERD and Voquezna, said his health is doing better since starting treatment.
“God bless, I feel great,” he added. “I’m in a much healthier kind of space with my daily lifestyle and meal decision-making and all of that good stuff. I’m in a good place.”
