Neil Patrick Harris Says His Family's COVID-19 Diagnosis Was 'No Joke'

Neil Patrick Harris
Santiago Felipe/Getty Images

The actor, his husband, and their 9-year-old twins all tested positive for the virus.

Neil Patrick Harris and his family's battle with COVID-19 lasted for weeks on end. The 47-year-old actor appeared on Thursday's episode of The Late Late Show With James Corden and revealed what it was like when he, his husband, David Burtka, and their 9-year-old twins, Harper and Gideon, were diagnosed with the virus earlier this year.

"It was right when all of this was first happening, end of March, early April. It wasn't fun," he admitted. "I didn't really feel like it was news worthy, in so much as I wasn't Instagramming about stuff. We were kinda just dealing with family."

Harris described the illness as "a flu of multiple weeks" that was followed by weeks of "lethargy" that left them "not wanting to exercise, not wanting to do much."

"It's no joke, that's for sure," he said. "But happily we're on the other side of it. We didn't have to go to hospital."

Harris also shared that he choose not to reveal his diagnosis when he was sick because he didn't "personally feel like someone's ills were news worthy."

Following his battle with COVID-19, the former How I Met Your Mother star encouraged everyone to "keep wearing masks, it's so important."

Harris first revealed his family's coronavirus battle during an appearance on the Today show earlier this week.

"I didn't want to be paranoid about it," he said, "Then I lost my sense of taste and smell, which was a big indicator, so we holed up."

Harris added that the recovery "wasn't pleasant," before sharing that he and his family have since tested positive for the antibodies.

RELATED CONTENT: