5th January, 2021
Actress Tanya Roberts, who was reported by many media outlets to have died, is alive.
But she remains in critical condition.
News reports had quoted her longtime publicist, Mike Pingel, saying she was dead.
Pingel has now reversed himself to declare she is not dead afterall.
How did the mix-up occur?
Pingel said he was notified Sunday evening by Roberts’ partner, Lance O’Brien, that Roberts had died.
In a phone call Monday evening, O’Brien told CNN he was distraught after saying goodbye to Roberts at her bedside and left Cedars-Sinai Medical Center believing it would be the last time he saw her.
On Monday morning, O’Brien was notified by the hospital that Roberts is still alive, according to Pingel and O’Brien.
They said it was a coincidence that O’Brien was doing an interview with Inside Edition when the hospital called.
“I’m so happy,” O’Brien told Inside Edition when he got the call.
Roberts was hospitalized in Los Angeles on December 24, after she collapsed at her California home following a walk with her dogs.