ORLANDO, Fla. – In a phone interview released by the Orange County Sheriff’s Office earlier this month, a woman who briefly worked with actor and comedian Bob Saget during his final stand-up show said he complained of feeling sick and attributed it to “not getting over COVID.”
The audio was included in a packet of evidence concerning the death of Saget, whose body was found Jan. 9 in his room at the Ritz-Carlton Orlando.
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In the interview, conducted Jan. 12 and covered in greater detail by PEOPLE, Ponte Vedra Concert Hall Runner Rosalie Cocci told an Orange County deputy that Saget complained of not feeling well but was in high spirits for his performance at the St. Augustine Amphitheater.
“Here’s my interpretation, because I did hear him say, you know, ‘I don’t feel good, but I’m ready to do the show,’” Cocci said. “He said, ‘This is what I do this for,’ you know? Kind of like he was talking himself up, but some talent -- you can tell they like to hear themselves talk in a funny, good way, but especially comedians, and you could tell he was that type. He was getting, you know, kind of warmed up for his show, so he was talking a lot, and he seemed OK.”
Cocci described how Saget complained of “long-term COVID,” which he allegedly tested positive for weeks before his death and at the time of his autopsy, PEOPLE reported.
“He said that he had something like, he said like ‘long-term COVID,’ maybe that it was taking him a long time for his body to get over it,” Cocci said. “He said that his hearing had been off, and that was the case for that evening, he was asking the sound guys to turn everything up, and that he had been sick the night before, and sick in the sense of, like, his, you know, his hearing was off. He said that he had a sore throat, that he had -- that he was happy that he had lozenges for the stage.”
Cocci said that Saget’s death came as a surprise to her, even though he spoke of not feeling well.
“My first answer was ‘but he was OK, he didn’t feel good, but he was OK,’” Cocci said.
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