Neil Patrick Harris reveals he and his family had coronavirus earlier this year
Neil Patrick Harris and his family are "feeling good" months after they tested positive for COVID-19 early in the pandemic.
The former "How I Met Your Mother" star shared on the 3rd hour of TODAY Tuesday that he and his husband, David Burtka, along with their 9-year-old twins, Gideon and Harper, all weathered the illness about six months ago.
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"We feel great," Harris said. "It happened very early (in the pandemic), like late March, early April. We were doing our best before, and I thought I had the flu, and I didn't want to be paranoid about it. And then I lost my sense of taste and smell, which was a big indicator, so we holed up."
The loss of the sense of taste and smell is a common symptom of COVID-19, with most people recovering from it within weeks after enduring the illness while others have had the issue linger much longer.
"There are people who were infected at the beginning of the pandemic, and they still haven’t regained their sense of smell," Dr. Sandeep Robert Datta, a Harvard neuroscientist, told TODAY last month.
Harris, 47, and his family appear to have made a full recovery.
"It was not pleasant, but we got through it and have antibodies and are feeling good," he said. "We want to make sure everyone's doing their best to slow this down every way possible, for sure."
Harris also weighed in on the newest iteration of the role that first brought him to fame in the early 1990s as child doctor "Doogie Howser, M.D." A reboot is in the works from Disney+ in which the character is now a multiracial 16-year-old girl named Lahela "Doogie" Kameāloha, the company announced last week.
"I'm just following all of the news that's being released like everyone else is, so I was excited to hear about it," Harris said. "I don't know other than what's been reported, but I do know that it's to be on Disney+, which is a super great channel. Anything that can promote Imagineers and Disney theme parks I'm all about, because I love that stuff."
The reboot is being helmed by Kourtney Kang, who was a writer and executive producer on "How I Met Your Mother," which Harris said means it's "in good hands."
"I love the Hawaiian vibe, it's a great idea, so it has all the aspects of making it a success, and I wish them nothing but the best," he said.
While Harris is not part of the Doogie Howser project, he is involved with "The Matrix 4," the latest installment of the blockbuster sci-fi movie series, which is currently filming in Berlin.
Harris also celebrated the release of the fourth book in his children's series called "The Magic Misfits: The Fourth Suit" on Tuesday.
"I wanted to write books that my kids would like, but I also wanted to write books that other types of kids would like, so for me, I wanted diversity of families of all kinds to be a part of the book, but not the part of the book," he said.
"Diversity in families is important," he continued. "Everyone in the books have different families, whether it be their actual families or adopted families or their friends who are their family. I think right now in a divisive world it's nice to have things that kids especially can relate to, and read, and regardless of their circumstances, feel like they have an in."
