Hollywood's beloved talk show host David Letterman is officially 78, and throughout his career, he has opened up about his several health battles. Best known for fronting his self-titled late-night show for over 33 years, the comedian was most recently hospitalised after hitting his head on the pavement and falling unconscious.

After receiving treatment, including stitches, David publicly thanked the hospital staff and called the 2021 incident a “fun little project.” However, this wasn’t the star’s only health issue, as David first opened up about living with a concerning condition in 1996. On an episode of The Late Show, the host revealed that he has tinnitus, which, according to the NHS, is a “form of hearing loss.”

Speaking to Star Trek’s William Shatner, David added that he has constant ringing in his ears and didn’t realise it was coming from inside his head.

The 78-year-old is also completely sober after admitting he was a “horrible alcoholic” until putting the bottle down for good when he was 34.

During his show, David said that in 1981: “I was drunk 80% of the time ... I loved it. I was one of those guys. I looked around, and everyone else had stopped drinking, and I couldn't understand why.”

On a separate occasion, he revealed that when he was shown drinking what appeared to be alcohol on the Late Show, it was, in fact, apple juice.

In 2015, David opened up about his said of his anxiety and said: “For years and years and years, 30, 40 years, I was anxious and hypochondriacal and an alcoholic, and many, many other things that made me different from other people.”

He was able to become calmer through a combination of Transcendental Meditation and low doses of medication. The TV host also addressed undergoing emergency bypass surgery in 2000 during a discussion with Oprah Winfrey in 2013.

David said the surgery was humbling and explained: “I was a hypochondriac… you go through heart surgery that takes the edge off your hypochondria – now you really got something.

Expressing his gratitude, the star added: “What I learned was, these people who do this [surgery] are so good, so talented, you have no choice but to trust them.

“They literally have your heart in their hands. I was so scared, then I realised when it was all done that I had nothing to be afraid of at all. These people are unbelievable.”