Jimmy Kimmel thinks his son Billy is "amazing".
The 49-year-old talk show host and his wife Molly McNearney welcomed their second child into the world four months ago, and were devastated to learn he had to undergo life-saving heart surgery after doctors discovered he had a congenital heart defect.
But now the ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’ host – who also has three-year-old Jane with his spouse, as well as daughter Katie, 26, and son Kevin, 23, with his former wife Gina – has said his son is "doing great" four months on from his surgery, and joked that he’s doing amazing things beyond his age such as "juggling".
Jimmy said: "He’s doing great. Young Billy made his first visit to our office today. He’s juggling. He’s translating Flaubert from French into English. He’s really an amazing kid. No — he smiles. That’s pretty much it. He is very interested in ceiling fans. He likes those a lot. I could get him to pay the same amount for Netflix just to watch ceiling fans."
And the television star admits he’s nervous for his son to undergo two more heart surgeries, and said he would love to get the procedures "over with".
He added to The Hollywood Reporter magazine: "He has to have two more open heart surgeries. We would like to get them over with and not have to think about it all the time, but it could definitely be worse."
News of Billy’s good spirits comes a month after Jimmy took to social media to inform his fans of his young tot’s progress.
He wrote: "Billy is 3 months old & doing great. Thx for the love & support. Please remind your Congresspeople that every kid deserves the care he got (sic)"
Jimmy bravely announced his son’s condition during an episode of his talk show in May, in which he said the tot was beginning to show important signs of improvement.
He said at the time: "Our son Billy is doing very well. He’s eating. He’s getting bigger. He’s sleeping well. He can read now, which they say is unusual. My wife took a little video of him today. You can see – he’s smiling because so many people donated to Children’s Hospital Los Angeles (CHLA). Either that or he has gas. We don’t know. But what a humbling outpouring of support. So many people made donations to CHLA, and my wife and I are very grateful."