Jack Whitehall has said he was “terrified” he had given his father coronavirus during the first weeks of lockdown.
The comedian, who often appears with his 80-year-old father Michael on screen, developed symptoms of the virus shortly after lockdown began, days after he had visited his parents for dinner.
Whitehall, 31, said he had followed Government guidelines and self-isolated, but described knowing he could have infected his father as “totally overwhelming”.
He told Radio Times: “We went over for dinner as the lockdown was just about to start.
“I have had Covid. I had it the first week of the lockdown. I had every symptom, the whole situation.
“I had it quite badly, and then the rest of the people in my household had it as well.
“At that point, I was absolutely ‘zero contact’.
“I had to be so careful, and was really careful not to leave the house, and to follow the guidelines in the right way.
“But I was really terrified that I’d seen Michael the week before and had no idea that I had it.
“It was a very scary couple of weeks, not wanting to hear him cough on the other end of the phone.”
Whitehall is celebrating Father’s Day with a new TV show on BBC One.
He said he wanted to prove families could still spend time together despite being physically apart due to social distancing.
He added: “I realise that a lot of people would have been going through that, and a lot of people are experiencing this right now, and how scared they must be.
“That feeling that you could give it to someone you love is totally overwhelming. That’s part of the reason for wanting to do this show.
“It’s showing people that you can still have that relationship from a distance.
“People love our relationship and see us as being close, but we are not going to be able to be close for a long time because of this.”
Read the full interview in Radio Times.
