The late “I Love Lucy” star Desi Arnaz opened up in the re-release of his memoir, A Book: The Outspoken Memoirs of the Man Who “Loved Lucy”— and Revolutionized Television, about the terrifying moment he thought he was on death’s doorsteps after he was misdiagnosed with syphilis at the age of 22, People reported.
Arnaz explained that at the time, when his prominent showbiz career was taking off with the Broadway musical “Too Many Girls,” he sought medical attention for a pain in his foot, which also had a blue hue. During his treatment, his doctor diagnosed him with syphilis, a condition that “can permanently damage your heart, brain, muscles, bones and eyes, according to Cleveland Clinic.
When detailing how the doctor told him about his diagnosis, Arnaz, ex-husband of Lucille Ball, recalled the doctor telling him, “‘I had to test your blood because of the poison in your foot, and the test showed that you have syphilis.’”
Desi Arnaz Thought His Life Was Over
Getty“I was twenty-two years old. The show was a big hit, but it hadn’t even gotten to Broadway yet,” the multitalented star said. “And this doctor was sitting there in front of me, telling me I had syphilis. In those days, that was worse than death. There was no penicillin cure yet — nothing.”
Arnaz went on to detail how unfair he felt it was that he had been given a death sentence after working so hard to get to where he wanted to be in the entertainment industry.
“Strange how many things go through your mind at a time like that: You are 22, you’ve gone through 5 years of cleaning birdcages, gone hungry, worked at ratholes, the terrible things my father and mother had to go through in Cuba, and now I’m in a successful show, about to open on Broadway, a show which the newspapers say will be a big fat hit and it looks as if I’ll be a hit too,” he said. “A big fat hit on Broadway! And this man tells me I’ve got syphilis!”
Despite the profound news of his medical condition, Arnaz couldn’t accept it, leading him to demand a second test to determine if he truly had syphilis. To his surprise, it came back negative, clearing him of the life-ending disease.
Desi Arnaz Explains How He Was Mistakenly Misdiagnosed With Syphilis
Getty“If I have ever thanked God in my life, I thanked Him then. What had happened (I found out later) was this: When they took a blood test in a hospital, if you were a bed patient, they brought a tray with a lot of little glass tubes on it, and the boys from the lab took the blood and put it in one of those tubes,” Arnaz explained. “Then they put the name of the patient on the tube. I was not in a private room. So they had also taken blood from the patient next to me, confused the tubes and put my name on his blood test.”
Arnaz said he continued to be tested for syphilis for 18 months following his misdiagnosis, as he wanted to be completely certain he was in the clear.
“For the next year and a half, I had a blood test taken every six months. I wouldn’t trust any hospital,” he shared. “I would go right to the doctor and say, ‘You take the blood in front of me, you put it in that little glass tube in front of me, and I’m going to take it to the lab myself, or if someone else has to take it, I’ll go with him.’”
Arnaz’s memoir, which detailed his misdiagnosis, was originally published in 1976 before it was re-released in February 2026. Within the republished copy, the Broadway star shared plentiful life experiences that hadn’t been revealed in the memoir’s initial release.
Arnaz lived until he was 69 years old, before passing away in 1986 from lung cancer, People reported.
