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Culture September 25, 2025

William Shatner breaks silence on viral hospitalization reports: Here's what he said

WATCH: William Shatner said he was ‘overwhelmed’ by trip to space

William Shatner is brushing off reports about his health, calling them "greatly exaggerated."

After online reports claimed the 93-year-old actor was rushed to the hospital on Wednesday, his agency told ABC News in a statement that the story was untrue, saying, "He is at home. This is a false report."

On Thursday, Shatner addressed the rumors himself, posting a meme on Instagram that read, "Rumors of my demise have been greatly exaggerated!"

"I over indulged," he wrote in the caption. "I thank you all for caring but I'm perfectly fine. I keep telling you all: don't trust tabloids or AI! 😉"

This isn't the first time Shatner has had to debunk rumors about his health.

In 2018, he responded to a Facebook ad falsely claiming he had died.

At the time, Shatner was alerted to his alleged death by a fan on Twitter, who tagged the icon with the caption, "@WilliamShatner I thought you might want to know you're dead."

The post included a picture from a sponsored advertisement on Facebook that claimed the "beloved Sci-Fi actor [was] found" dead.

"Hey @facebook isn't this your messenger app?" he wrote on Twitter at the time in response. "Thought you were doing something about this?"

The company quickly took action and removed the ad from the platform.

Shatner later followed up in classic fashion, writing, "Thank you. I'm not planning on dying so please continue to block those kinds of ads."