Joshua Bassett Was Hospitalized for Heart Failure After 'Drivers License'

In a new interview with People, the star said he experienced heart failure, which was possibly stress-induced, after the release of Olivia Rodrigo's "Drivers License."

For those of you who need a brief refresher, Rodrigo's smash-hit was rumored to be about her supposed breakup with Bassett, as well as his decision to move on with Sabrina Carpenter because of a line about an older blonde woman. As a result of its success though, Bassett and Carpenter were harassed and threatened by fans, who also speculated that the alleged new couple were releasing their own songs in response to the hate.

For her part, Rodrigo eventually told fans to stop the cyberbullying, while Bassett also later said he understood why people were upset. However, it turns out the intense anger directed towards the actor and musician in the days following the release of "Drivers License" still had a grave effect on him — to the point where he had to go to the hospital.

Coincidentally, Bassett was already planning to drop his song "Lie Lie Lie" six days after "Drivers License," but the timing led drama fiends to incorrectly assume it was a response to Rodrigo. But given his sudden health crisis, he ended up spending the release day in the emergency room, which he posted about on Instagram at the time.

"after multiple, very very ugly days and nights, i had no choice today but be taken to the hospital," he said, before telling fans he had his first surgery that night and was "gonna rest at the hospital and the doctors will see what they see in the morn."

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According to Bassett, he realized it wasn't just "anxiety" after he began "sleeping 16 to 20 hours a day," "couldn't even stand up for longer than 30 seconds" and could feel his heart "literally failing." And this ended up with him being diagnosed with septic shock, with the publication saying he also experienced heart failure. Either way though, he said "the doctors were like, 'If you hadn't checked in within 12 hours, you would have died in your apartment.'"

He continued, "It's wild that I was this close to taking another nap."

Bassett went on to say that he spent nine more days at the hospital and recovered, though he was still struggling with panic attacks and depression. Even so, he ended up recording a new three-song EP during this time, which he said was "stressful and hard."

"I was able to make something out of my pain, a lot of times it was just me grieving and going through all these different feelings." Not only that, but even after delaying the release until December, his record caused "that week was worse than the year combined."

"I got what I had to say off of my chest," he revealed. "But it brought all that stuff back up, and the healing isn't very linear."

Granted, Bassett said he's a much better place now thanks to therapy and mindfulness practices like meditation and yoga, which also allowed him to process his childhood sexual abuse.

"In this last year a lot of my biggest fears came true," he concluded. "But in that, I found that I'll always be OK, if not better off."

Read Bassett's entire feature here.

Photo via Getty / Gregg DeGuire / FilmMagic