Chad Michael Murray was once so close to death, his family called in a priest to perform the last rites

Speaking on the Great Company podcast, Chad said: "I was in hospital for two and a half months. It was a lot. [I was] in and out of consciousness.

"We had surgery. I had internal bleeding, I lost 50 per cent of my blood. I was on my deathbed.

"I just remember seeing my father, the weakest I'd ever seen him, and a priest at the end of my bed. They're talking about last rites and all that stuff, and [the nurse, Sandy] gave me a blood transfusion to save my life. It saved my life."

Chad didn't reveal his exact diagnosis but explained he had to have a second surgery to "clean up" his internal organs.

He explained: "Regardless, you're in there for two months and, you know, my organs shut down because you have blood all coagulated around them, and they had to wait till everything [healed more]. So, anyway, I had to have a second surgery to clean everything up.

"I went from, like, 180 to 118 pounds. I was a skeleton when I got out. I remember looking in the mirror the first time going, 'Who is that?' Like, I cried. I couldn't believe that I was looking back at that guy."

Despite his terrifying ordeal, Chad credits his hospital stay with helping his break into Hollywood, after one of his nurses, a model named Alana, encouraged him to take up modelling.

He said: "Alana says to me, 'Oh gosh, you should model'. I was like, 'I don't want to model. I want to be an actor. Like, I love film and television. I want to give this gift to other people.' And she's like, 'Well, you can segue from modelling into acting. Look, when you get out, I'm hooking you up with this modelling company I know.' And she meant it."

And, Chad credits his illness with bringing him and his father closer together.

He said: "I started my relationship with God, and my relationship with my father became really close. My dad [was] raising five kids on his own [and] came to the hospital every single day, and he spent countless nights with me when he had four more kids at home."