Listen: Aaron Lazar Shares He Has Been Diagnosed With ALS

Broadway veteran Aaron Lazar recently revealed that he has been diagnosed with ALS. Lazar made the announcement during his interview on a recent episode of the Carefully Taught podcast hosted by Matthew Teague Miller.

"I was diagnosed almost two years ago with ALS, which is Lou Gehrig's disease," Lazar said. "It's a terminal disease that kills your nerves and takes your freedom before it takes your life."

He went on to say that he had been dealing with the symptoms for even longer.

"It took about eight months of the terror of symptoms, muscle twitches and some muscle weakness and muscle atrophy, to start to understand the what the hell was going on," he shared.

Lazar then shared his positive outlook on the situation, and how he sees it as an opportunity.

"I've seen it from the beginning as a divine opportunity disguised as an impossible situation," he said. "Doctors and medicine don't know what causes non-genetic ALS. There's literally ... no reason for its development. So, I've just been on a journey to try to understand how I got it and how to fix myself."

Listen to the full episode below: 

About Aaron Lazar

Aaron Lazar is an actor, singer, producer, and entrepreneur from Cherry Hill, NJ. An athlete and performer in high school, Aaron graduated magna cum laude from Duke University where he studied pre-med and music. After earning an MFA in musical theater from the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, Aaron put plans of being a doctor on hold and moved to New York City.

Aaron has starred on Broadway 11 times from his debut in Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber’s The Phantom of the Opera to Sting and John Logan's The Last Ship. Other highlights include: the first and only revival of Stephen Sondheim’s A Little Night Music, the world premiere of Impressionism, The Light in the Piazza at Lincoln Center and Live from Lincoln Center on PBS, the first revival of Les Miserables, the premiere of A Tale of Two Cities and the first national tour of Dear Evan Hansen as the Dad, Larry Murphy. 

As a singer, Aaron has been a guest artist with some of the world's most prestigious symphonies including: The New York Philharmonic at Avery Fisher Hall, The New York Pops at Carnegie Hall, The National Symphony Orchestra at The Kennedy Center, The Boston Pops at Tanglewood, The Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra at Masada, The English National Opera Orchestra on the West End in London, and The Hollywood Bowl Orchestra.

Aaron’s critically acclaimed solo show "Broadway to Hollywood" debuted at The Kennedy Center and continues to play the country's finest cabaret clubs and PAC's. Aaron's voice can be heard on dozens of commercials and cast albums. His music is available for download on Spotify and iTunes.

On film, Aaron has worked for legendary directors Martin Scorcese in The Wolf of Wallstreet, Clint Eastwood in J.Edgar, Shawn Levy in This is Where I Leave You and the Russo brothers in Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame. His latest film Everything, Everywhere All at Once is directed by the Daniels. Television appearances on all the major networks include: ABC's "Quantico," FX's "The Strain," Disney's "Girl Meets World," NBC's "The Blacklist," CBS's "Blue Bloods" and "The Good Wife," and this year Aaron stars as Reverend Paul Thomas in the new gothic soap "Filthy Rich" on FOX.