On the mend. Stand-up comedian Sinbad is healing after recently suffering a stroke.
The 64-year-old actor, born David Adkins, “is beginning his road to recovery” following the health scare, his family revealed on Monday, November 16.
“Sinbad is a light source of love and joy for many generations,” the Adkins family said in a statement to the Associated Press. “Our family thanks you in advance for your love and support and ask for continued prayers for his healing. We also ask that you please respect our privacy during this time.”
As the Michigan native continues on the path to a full recovery, his family noted that they are “faithful and optimistic that he will bring laughter into our hearts soon.”
Sinbad is best known for his work on the stand-up comedy circuit in the 1990s. He also made appearances on popular sitcoms, playing Coach Walter Oakes in A Different World (1987 to 1991) and David Bryan on The Sinbad Show (1993 to 1994). As his career continued to take off, he starred in 1996’s Jingle All the Way and 1997’s Good Burger. More recently, Sinbad has lent his voice to animated series including Family Guy, American Dad and Steven Universe.
In 2018, the comic scored a main role in Fox’s Rel, a sitcom created by Lil Rel Howery and Kevin Barnett. The series, loosely based on Howery’s life, followed a Chicago nurse trying to rebuild his life after learning that his ex-wife had an affair with his barber. Rel was canceled in April 2019 after just one season.
Sinbad shares two children with wife Meredith Fuller, whom he wed in 1985. The duo split in 1992 but rekindled their romance years later and remarried in 2002. During a 2018 radio interview, the Coneheads actor revealed the unconventional key to keeping his marriage afloat.
“I need my own place,” he teased at the time. “When we got back together, I kept my house. The reason I think we were able to get back together [is that] I kept my house for five years. … I have my drums there, my musical instruments there. All the stuff that women hate.”
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