'America's Got Talent' judge Howie Mandel says wife was high on marijuana gummies, not drunk before accident
"America's Got Talent" judge Howie Mandel is clarifying the circumstances behind his wife Terry's bloody fall in Las Vegas.
The 68-year-old TV personality previously detailed how he found his wife of 40 years in a pool of blood after she took a tumble in their hotel room following a "tipsy" night in Sin City. During an appearance on TMZ LIVE, Mandel set the record straight regarding which mind-altering substance led to his spouse's accident at the Fontainebleau Las Vegas.
"First of all, she wasn't drunk," he said. "She's so worried that people are going to intervene with her alcohol problem. She doesn't have an alcohol problem. I'm going to tell you the truth. She took gummies."
"She took gummies," Mandel emphasized. "So it's not an alcohol problem. She was on pot."
The former "Deal or No Deal" host explained that people had jumped to conclusions when he previously shared the story of Terry's fall.
"I said we had a great night and we got a little tipsy," Mandel recalled.
While people had assumed that "tipsy" referred to drinking too much alcohol, Terry's intoxicated state was actually due to consuming edibles.
While speaking with TMZ LIVE hosts Harvey Levin and Charles Latibeaudiere, Mandel recounted the frightening incident.
"She got out of bed in the middle of night and fell," he said. "And it was really scary. I put her on the bed and I tried to give her ice, and I didn't have ice, and I gave her cans of soda to put on her head."
However, Mandel said that Terry wasn't receptive to his efforts at the time and began hurling the cans of soda away from her head.
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"She threw them across the room and I went and got another can of soda, because I didn't know that it was cut so bad," he said. "And she threw that across the room."
Mandel then realized the severity of Terry's injuries when he saw her skull was exposed.
"Finally I saw that bone," he said. "I could see the bone."
"So I called down to the front desk and I say to them, ‘I got to call 911.' They go, ‘What happened?’ 'I don't know. I don't know, but there's blood everywhere.' They go, 'We're sending security up. They send security up. My wife is lying in the bed. There's blood everywhere. There's Coke cans that have been strewn across the room."
Mandel told the outlet that the hotel security initially suspected him of domestic violence when they witnessed the scene.
"They've got me against the TV," he recalled. "My wife is covered in blood all over the bed. There's cans that have been thrown across the room."
Mandel explained that he was dismayed when Terry accidentally fueled the suspicions.
"They had me leave the room and they asked her, ‘What happened?’ And she kept saying, 'I don't know.' And I said, 'Don't say you don't know!'"
The Canada native said the security then inquired why there were cans of soda that were all over the room.
"She says, ‘He tried to put them on my head,'" Mandel said. "No, no, no!"
"It just kept getting worse and worse and worse," he continued. "And then she started laughing because she realized. She realized where this was going. I didn't see it going that way either, until they're in the other room and they're questioning me and I'm going, 'Her head is open. You got to put her on a gurney and take her someplace because I'm concerned.'"
Eventually, Mandel and Terry were able to clear the matter up. However, he said that didn't stop Terry, who he described as having a "great sense of humor," from teasing him over the suspicions after they returned from the hospital.
"We got back to the hotel, and she's opening the door to the room," Mandel recalled. "We're going back in the room. Another couple is coming out and going out for breakfast, and she goes, 'Howie, I promise I'll be a good girl.'"
"No, that's not funny! That is not funny," Mandel said.
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Latibeaudiere noted that people need to exercise caution when navigating dark hotel rooms after a night of partying.
"I think the lesson here is — and everybody does this, and especially in Vegas — if you've been drinking or smoking or taking gummies, you get up in the middle of the night and you think that you can walk across the room without turning on the light. No, turn on a light," Latibeaudiere said.
"No, I think the takeaway from this is marriage isn't easy," Mandel said as Levin and Latibeaudiere laughed.
Mandel first shared the story of Terry's accident during a Monday appearance on "LIVE with Kelly and Mark."
The comedian assured the hosts that Terry was now well past on-the-mend. "She is absolutely perfect," he said. "There is not a scar. She is beautiful."