The Truth About CNN Correspondent John King's MS Diagnosis

During a panel discussion about former secretary of state Colin Powell's death, CNN anchor John King revealed that he has multiple sclerosis. According to the Mayo Clinic, multiple sclerosis is a disease that causes the immune system to attack the protective sheath called myelin that covers the nerve fibers in the body. This action leads to communication issues between the brain and the rest of the body, causing some sufferers to lose the ability to walk independently or even experience long periods of time in which no symptoms are present.

King's admission came during a reaction to Tucker Carlson's statement on Fox News, in which he said that Powell's death — which came as a result of COVID-19 despite being vaccinated — provided proof that the government had been lying about the effectiveness of vaccines. "I'm going to share a secret I have never spoken before," King said during a segment on his show, "Inside Politics," per Deadline. "I am immunocompromised. I have multiple sclerosis. So I am grateful you are all vaccinated. I am grateful my employer says all of these amazing people who work on the floor, who came in here in the last 18 months when we are doing this, are vaccinated now that we have vaccines. I worry about bringing it home to my 10-year-old son who can't get a vaccine. I don't like the government telling me what to do. I don't like my boss telling me what to do. In this case, it's important."

In the aftermath of his on-air admission, John King, the host of CNN's "Inside Politics," spoke with several publications and news programs about how his multiple sclerosis diagnosis has impacted his life and career. As King explained, he first began to experience symptoms related to multiple sclerosis, like having difficulty feeling his legs, while covering the Clinton administration. Shortly after covering the 2008 GOP convention, in which King became to experience this numbness in his upper body as well, King was officially diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. "Back in those days it was frightening," King said while talking to CNN's John Berman. "It was very frightening. And I decided to keep it a secret, and then I kind of got caught in that. And very few people, a few people, dozen people know, my siblings, my family, those closest to me and my family have known about it."

Over a decade after first being diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, King said that he still struggles at times to cope with the symptoms associated with the disease. "Every day it is with me in some nagging way," King said on-air. "Other days it is with me in more profound challenging ways. You fall down, you can't pick things up. But I'm so lucky ... That's the point. That's one of the reasons I've been reluctant to talk about it is that, there are people who get this disease and other diseases who are not so lucky. Mine has progressed very, very slowly."