What do Boris Johnson, Madonna, Tom Hanks and Prince Charles have in common? • The list of celebrities who have contracted the virus is only getting longer all the time • And there are those who have not survived

• Prince Charles. "Determined to prevent this suffering from many more people"

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The corona virus, as we have painfully learned over the past six months, does not differentiate between sectors. He wanders stubbornly between continents and attacks everyone. Yes, the celebs too.

If anyone erred in the illusion that celebrities would be immune to the plague, reality came and slapped him on March 11, when Tom Hanks and his wife, Rita Wilson, became the first celebrities to be diagnosed with Covid-19. In doing so, the Chinese virus acquired a "Western face" that everyone knew, which at once increased the dimensions of the panic surrounding the disease, making it several times more tangible and threatening.

The infection happened to the couple in Australia, where Hanks was busy filming an Elvis Presley movie. Wilson and he immediately went into solitary confinement at a local hospital, and five days later moved into a rented house in the state. After two and a half weeks of isolation, he returned to Los Angeles.

"During my illness, I felt like my bones were made of crackers," Hanks said in an interview with Stephen Colbert. "Every time I moved, I felt like something inside me was cracking. My butt muscles ached a lot."

Hanks said his recovery process lasted about eight days, and in a radio interview revealed that his wife's symptoms were severe: "She went through difficult days. Her fever was higher than mine. She lost her sense of taste and smell, suffered from nausea and could not enjoy food for almost three. Weeks".

Later in March, as more and more countries around the world began to enter the quarantine and the stock markets collapsed uncontrollably, the corona also reached the British monarchy. The regent, Prince Charles, was diagnosed with the virus, although - to his relief - he suffered from only mild symptoms.

The 71-year-old prince reported a loss of taste and smell and spent his days in solitary confinement at the family palace in Scotland. Camila, his wife, was tested - and came out negative. Charles, his mother, Queen Elizabeth II, had met about two and a half weeks earlier. Those around him could not indicate from whom exactly he was infected, since by virtue of his position he had many encounters in the days preceding his diagnosis of blue.

"In my case I was lucky, but I can understand what other people went through," Charles told Sky News after his recovery, "I feel sympathy especially with those who lost loved ones and were unable to be by their side at the time. For me, it's the most horrible thing. "And to prevent this suffering from many more people - I am determined to find a way out of the situation."

Charles is not the only one with blue blood who has contracted the virus. Prince Albert II of Monaco, the son of the late Princess Grace Kelly, was diagnosed in March as positive and continued to run the affairs of the Little European Princess from a secluded room in his private home. Albert has two 5-year-old twins (son and daughter) who have reportedly not been infected.

"I kept in touch with the kids, and we had face-to-face conversations almost every night," the prince revealed. "We told each other stories and talked about what each one was doing during the day. I asked the twins to take care of themselves. They knew I was sick and should stay away."

Shortly after his recovery, 62-year-old Albert told People magazine that he was still carrying a cough that did not go away. "But it's quite normal, because other people who got sick also said it takes time to get rid of the cough. Other than that, everything is fine with me. My lesson from the disease is that I will start taking things more easily. The only appointments I will hold soon will be through video screens."

When Prince Charles was first diagnosed with Corona, speculation arose that he might have contracted Malber, since on March 12 they were both present at the same dinner. In an interview with French radio, however, Albert estimated that the likelihood was low, due to the social distance they maintained: "We greeted each other from a distance, each of us sitting at a different end of the table, and I did not shake his hand at all."

The creator of the "Girls" series, Lena Dunham, also fell ill with Covid-19 during March. "I was not able to share this with the public, I was afraid," she wrote on Instagram four months later. "I do not want to unnecessarily add my voice to the already noisy landscape on such a challenging subject," she reasoned. She explained that the "carelessness of the Americans" and their disregard for the guidelines of social distance made her eventually tell her story.

According to her, the joint pain that accompanied Corona did not drive her crazy, as she is used to the pain, as someone who suffers from the chronic disease endometriosis, which also led to a hysterectomy. "At one point a crucial fatigue was also added to this pain, then a fever of 39 degrees. Suddenly my body just rebelled," she wrote.

Dunham, she said, experienced difficulty breathing, and suffered from headaches and difficulty sleeping, in addition to loss of taste and smell. "It lasted with me for 21 days, which merged into each other. Luckily, I had a private doctor who instructed me on how to treat myself, and I did not need to be hospitalized." Dunham, who eventually spent an entire month in solitary confinement, testified that she had a "strong sense of loneliness" at the end of her sick days.

Mel Gibson was hospitalized during the week of April for a week in a Los Angeles hospital, following an exacerbation of the symptoms he suffered due to the disease. During his hospitalization, the 64-year-old actor was treated with the drug Ramdesibir, which improved his condition. He has since been tested several times and diagnosed negative for the virus, but positive for antibodies in his blood.

Alyssa Milano, who is expected to return to our lives soon with a planned comeback of the sitcom "Who's the Boss?", Only realized in retrospect that she too was infected with the virus, after claiming she was ill during March for two weeks and suffered from many Corona symptoms.

"I was never sick like that, everything hurt me," she said recently, "I lost my sense of taste and felt like an elephant was sitting on my chest. I could not breathe and I could not keep food inside me. I lost four kilos in two weeks. I was confused, with low fever and terrible headaches. I had all the familiar symptoms. "At the time, she said, she underwent two corona tests - but came out negative in both.

"After living for more than two months with symptoms such as vertigo, stomach problems, irregular periods, palpitations, shortness of breath, short-term memory impairment and general discomfort - I did a blood test in the lab, and this time I was positive for corona antibodies," she wrote on Instagram this month.

Milan, 47, who also reported serious hair loss to her online followers, said: "I just want you to be aware that our tests are defective, and that we probably do not know the true numbers of people infected. This disease is not a scam. I thought I was dying. It felt that way to me. "

Madonna also did not realize in real time that she was infected with Corona. In May, the pop queen told Instagram that during her tour of Paris in March, she contracted what she thought was a "really severe flu," until tests she later took after recovering found blood-borne antibodies in her blood.

"I am grateful for the opportunity to help with research to find a cure for Corona," she announced after donating a dummy for further research, "at the time we all on the show thought we had caught the flu. Thank God, everyone is healthy now."

British actor Idris Alba also made the list, after he and his wife, fashion woman Sabrina Alba, were diagnosed in mid-March. The two suffered from mild symptoms, and the actor described the experience as "definitely scary, unsettling and stressful." In an interview with the EP, Alba said of his insights from the disease: "Right now we all share the same feeling. I think the world needs to make a week of isolation for itself every year, to remember this period. To remember each other."

His wife, Sabrina, admitted to Oprah Winfrey: "I could have isolated myself in a separate room, but in the end I decided to be with Idris and keep touching him, and that's how I stuck with myself. I'm sure there are many more who have to make such difficult decisions."

The red-haired Norwegian actor Christopher Hibio, who played the character of Thurmond in "Game of Thrones", was diagnosed with Corona in mid-March and isolated himself with his family at their home in Norway. As a result, the production of Netflix's fantasy series, "The Wizard," in which Hibio participated in its filming, was suspended. The set was disinfected, and some of the production staff went into preventative isolation. This was one of the first productions to be forced to stop due to the spread of the plague. "After a few weeks in isolation, I'm finally free of symptoms," Hibio told his fans in April.

Renowned producer Harvey Weinstein, who is serving a prison sentence for sexually assaulting women, contracted the virus when he was transferred from the Rickers Island detention facility to a New York City jail, where the plague broke out and hit hundreds of inmates. Weinstein was immediately sent to solitary confinement in a medical facility, and after recovering was returned to his cell in prison. Recently, in a lawsuit over his extradition to Los Angeles, his attorneys claimed he was "afraid of being infected once again, because the jail is like a corona incubator."

Brian Cranston, aka Walter White in the "Breaking the Lines" series, pleaded with the public in late July: "Keep wearing the masks." He did so despite admitting to sticking to himself, though he adhered to the rules of caution. In a video posted to Instagram, the 64-year-old actor updated: "I'm sure you're feeling a little shackled now, because you have restricted your mobility and are tired of it - just like me. So I just want to encourage you to be patient. I was very strict about the virus. "It sounds scary, but I was lucky. Mild symptoms."

And we will move on to Antonio Banderas, who on his 60th birthday, on August 10, announced that he too had joined the victims of the Corona. He told his Instagram followers: "I have to celebrate my birthday in isolation. I feel relatively well, just a little more tired than usual, and convinced that I will recover soon. I will use the isolation to read, write, rest and continue to plan plans for pouring meaning into my 60s year. "I enter with enthusiasm."

Not only players have been infected with the virus that is deceiving all over the world, but also leading singers and musicians.

"I was very ill, but now I'm fine," said singer Marianne Faithpool after 22 worrying days she spent in a London hospital in April. After her release, she thanked the network for the medical staff who treated her - "and who undoubtedly saved my life."

Faithpool, 73, was considered a high-risk patient, not only because of her age but also because of her rich medical history, which includes liver disease and breast cancer, along with a long battle with addictions and anorexia. "Marian is barely able to speak," her husband said after being hospitalized, and her friend added, "She tried to escape the virus, but one of the people working with her infected her."

Faithpool herself later told British Radio 4: "I did not cope well with the long period of isolation and went into a very deep depression. So to overcome it I did meditation. People who sent me light and love helped me a lot. I am grateful for the feeling that other people care about me. I "I hope to be able to perform again until next winter. I prefer not to retire. I feel I am recovering and getting stronger."

Opera singer Placido Domingo, 79, was also hospitalized in March for about a week at an Acapulco hospital in Mexico. "The recovery of my voice is a miracle," he said later, "two or three months ago, at the height of my illness, I was convinced I could no longer sing. It is important for me now to leave the house in Acapulco, which I have not left for months. I have never spent so long. With my wife, my son and his wife - and the two grandchildren. "

American singer Fink and her 3-year-old son, Jameson, developed symptoms in March, but Fink had difficulty getting an appointment for a corona test and had to use her connections to get rid of them. After receiving a positive answer, they spent two weeks in solitary confinement, at the end of which Fink came out against the failure of the tests and donated $ 1 million to the fight against the plague. Half of the money was transferred to a hospital foundation in Philadelphia, where the singer's mother worked for 18 years, and another half a million was donated to the Los Angeles emergency services.

Blind Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli contracted the virus in late March, but experienced a rapid and complete recovery. "The plague that rocked the whole world also affected me, albeit slightly, and some of my family members," the 61-year-old singer wrote on his Facebook page. He said his second wife, Veronica, and their 8-year-old daughter, Virginia, were also infected.

Two months later, Bocelli was forced to apologize for statements he had made, and that many resented him in Italy, one of the countries hardest hit at the start of the epidemic. The singer claimed in an interview that he was “humiliated and injured” following the decision to impose a comprehensive closure on the state, accused the government of inflating the corona incident and added that he did not personally know anyone who had come to intensive care due to the disease. "So what was all this heaviness for? Let's we refuse to obey these laws," he said. The attack surprised the Italians, as Bocelli stood out as a symbol of unity at the height of the days of closure, when he sang live from the empty cathedral in Milan, last Easter, the "Music of Hope".

And how is it possible without Kenya West, which claims to have recovered from Corona as early as February. According to the musician, who recently flirted with the limits of sanity, he treated the symptoms with the help of "hot showers" and watching YouTube videos on the best methods to beat the disease. Who said you need a vaccine.

And from the artists we will move on to the politicians. Another famous contender at the height of the first wave was British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who for weeks ignored the outbreak of the plague, was absent from meetings in Corona, continued to shake hands without keeping his distance - and constantly spoke of herd immunity in the kingdom. At the end of March, the 55-year-old Johnson reported symptoms, was diagnosed as positive for the virus, but continued to manage state affairs from the isolation at his home in Downing 10. However, within days his health deteriorated and he was hospitalized in a London hospital. A day later he turned to the intensive care unit, when he was forced to hand over his powers to Foreign Minister Dominic Rab.

Johnson spent three days in intensive care and needed an oxygen supply. After recovering and being released, at the end of seven days of hospitalization, he admitted that his doctors had prepared for a scenario in which he would not survive the disease. "These were difficult days. They had a strategy for dealing with a 'Stalin's death-style situation, and I was aware that there were contingency plans.'

Johnson is not the only head of state to have experienced the horrors of the corona in the flesh, having underestimated the virus. Even Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro has been documented moving around regularly without a mask, and has never maintained a social distance. This is despite the fact that some 110,000 people have died in the plague in Brazil so far, and at least eight government ministers have fallen ill.

In July, it became clear to Bolsonaro, 65, and his wife, Michel, that they too had joined the list of those infected. The president, it turns out, developed symptoms, reported a feeling of "mold" in his throat and said he was taking antibiotics. During that "little flu," as he called it, he was treated with hydroxychloroquine. Two weeks later, as soon as the long-awaited negative answer in the test arrived, which indicates that he had recovered, he got on his motorcycle and went out to take pictures with civilians - again, without wearing a mask.

Neighbor Bolivia also raided the corona at a cabinet meeting. The incumbent president, Jenin Anice, has been infected, and so have at least seven ministers. After recovering and returning to full-time work, 52-year-old Anice tweeted: "Thank you for the love and support I received while I was in Corona. Bolivia is a big family, we are moving forward."

Honduran's 51-year-old president, Juan Orlando Hernandez, who was invited to light a beacon on Israel's 70th Independence Day, was diagnosed with Corona in June. He was hospitalized with pneumonia and treated there for 16 days. His wife, Anna Garcia, was also infected, but reportedly suffered no symptoms.

Hernandez was treated, he said, in what he called "MAIZ therapy," which includes an experimental and unproven combination of microdecin, azithromycin, ivermectin and zinc, which his government is promoting as a way to fight Covid-19. In an interview with local television, after his release from hospital, he said: "I do not wish the experience on anyone. I had thoughts about what would happen if I could not be reunited with my family."

The prime ministers of Russia, Armenia and Kosovo also contracted the virus and recovered. Sophie Gregoir Trudeau, the wife of Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, contracted the virus on a March trip to the UK, where she attended an event attended by 12,000 people and posed for a photo alongside Idris Alba. Trudeau remained in isolation and experienced mild symptoms. Her husband and their three children were not infected.

And what about athletes? The world's number one Serbian tennis player, Novak Djokovic, and his wife, Jelena - both outspoken vaccine opponents who have expressed opposition to vaccinating against Corona in the future - contracted the virus during a showcase tournament organized by Djokovic, 33, in Croatia. The irony, to state the ability of the sport to return to routine despite the epidemic. The tournament was canceled after tennis players Grigor Dimitrov, Viktor Troitsky and Borna Choric joined the list of contenders. Djokovic's coach, former Wimbledon champion Goran Ivanisevic, was also diagnosed with Covid-19.

Utah Jazz basketball player Rudy Gubbert became famous at the beginning of the epidemic when he blatantly ignored health regulations at a news conference he attended after his team's game in the NBA. Gobert defiantly touched all the microphones in the room, and three days later was diagnosed as positive for the virus. "I hope my story will help understand the dangers and make everyone take it seriously," he later apologized.

Also infected were 31-year-old Brooklyn Nets basketball player Kevin Durant; Patrick Ewing, 57-year-old former basketball player; And 64-year-old James Dolan, owner of the New York Knicks Club. Kenny Dalgliesh, 69, a Liverpool football legend, was hospitalized for symptoms of the illness but recovered in time to celebrate the club's championship.

Unfortunately, there are also celebrities who did not get to come out of the plague alive.

The magician Roy Horn survived 17 years ago an attack of a tiger on a stage in Las Vegas, during a performance, and also a stroke - but the corona was already big on him, and in May he died of the virus, at the age of 74. Horn, born in Germany, was part of the famous "Siegfried duo" And Roy, "which has been a dizzying success in the world and has previously run a popular show in Vegas. "Roy has been a warrior all his life, including in his last days," his partner, Siegfried Fishbacher, praised him.

Other celebs who surrendered to Corona: American singer Trini Lopez, who died at the age of 83; Photographer Alan DeBio, who worked closely with Spielberg and filmed the films ET and The Color Crimson, and died at the age of 77; Renowned shoe designer Sergio Rossi, who died at the age of 84, after several days of hospitalization; And Egyptian film legend Raja al-Jadawi, 81, who has starred in hundreds of films since the 1950s, contracted the virus in May and died two months later.

Cameroonian saxophonist Mano Divango, a pioneer of world jazz, also surrendered to Corona and died at the age of 86 in a Paris hospital. Ken Shimura, one of Japan's top comedians, succumbed to the disease after being hospitalized with pneumonia at a Tokyo hospital. Its preservation was supposed to be one of the torchbearers at the 2020 Olympics, which was postponed because of the plague.

Broadway star Nick Cordero fought in Corona for nearly four months, until he passed away in July, at the age of 41. In late April, Cordero underwent two negative tests, and his condition improved, but his rehabilitation process lengthened, and after a drastic deterioration in health he passed away, leaving a one-year-old baby. . "God has now received another angel in heaven," his wife, Amanda Clots, praised him.

Let's all hope that no more "angels" are added soon, and that the celebs leave the health sections and finally return to their traditional place - on gossip sites. 

nirw@israelhayom.co.il