Kenan Thompson has been going through it for the last few years, and none of us knew. Until now.
“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 told PEOPLE. “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.”
During a recent interview with PEOPLE, the veteran “Saturday Night Live” star opened up about his health struggles, telling the outlet that he would deal with heartburn while eating acidic foods.
Even though he was struggling to get through workdays, Thompson did not open up to anyone about what he was going through and just tried to avoid those acidic foods that would bring him pain. He would take other medications, but nothing was working.
This resulted in the “Good Burger” comedian finally taking a trip to the doctor in 2024, where he was almost immediately diagnosed with gastroesophageal reflux disease, better known as GERD, a condition where the contents of your stomach move into your esophagus and can cause irritation, according to Johns Hopkins Medicine.
Now instead of “suffering in silence,” Thompson is speaking up for anyone else who is dealing with the same condition, starting the GERD IS NO JOKE campaign.
“I’ve had good training with SNL, just trying to take the comedic approach to tougher topics and make it more palatable to discuss,” Thompson told PEOPLE.
Thompson, whose been a comedian for more than 20 years, has never shied away from hard discussions.
In May 2024, he shared his thoughts on the “Quiet on Set” documentary, openly sharing that even though he never experienced the abuse and inappropriate behavior that took place at Nickelodeon in the late ‘90s and early 2000s, his heart went out to those that have been victimized.