The 69-year-old critic has become Hollywood's No. 1 provocateur online.
Jeff Ruymen/NewsComRoger Ebert has given a new status update on his health condition, writing on Facebook: “I’m aving [sic] a lot of health troubles that are keeping me from doing work and functioning online. Best person to contact is Chaz. Not in best of shape.”
More than 2,400 messages of support have since appeared in the comments on the legendary, Pulitzer Prize-winning film critic’s Thursday post. He also tweeted: “Health troubles keeping me offline. damn, damn.”
Earlier this month, Ebert was hospitalized after fracturing a hip. At the time, his wife Chaz Ebert joked on Twitter that his “tricky disco dance moves” were to blame but that he was doing well.
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On Thursday, Chaz offered another update on her Twitter account, posting a photo of a young Ebert along with the message: “Hospitals have up and down days. This is a down day, intense PT, but Roger is making progress. Fractured hip a bitch.”
Ebert, 70, has dealt with health issues in recent years, fighting cancer in his thyroid and salivary glands and losing the ability to speak because of the cancer. His 2011 memoir, Life Itself, is being adapted into a film in a project uniting Martin Scorsese, Steven Zaillian and Hoop Dreams director Steve James.
