Saturday Night Live star Kenan Thompson reveals new health diagnosis

Kenan Thompson has opened up about his experience of battling gastroesophageal reflux disease.

Kenan Thompson has been diagnosed with gastroesophageal reflux disease.

The 46-year-old actor was diagnosed with the disease – which causes stomach acid to repeatedly flow back into the tube that connects his mouth to his stomach – after he started experiencing painful heartburn on the set of ‘Saturday Night Live’ two years ago.

Speaking to PEOPLE, Kenan shared: “I noticed that I would get hoarse a lot easier when I’m doing the show. Losing my voice quicker, but also uncomfortable sleepless nights because I’m burping up acid, just kind of hiccuping all night. And that can definitely add more stress to an already stressful kind of environment doing a live show like that.

“So, all of those factors, I was like whatever, I’ll get over it. But it just started to pile up.”

Despite his best efforts, Kenan couldn’t find a solution to the problem.

The actor – who has been a cast member on ‘Saturday Night Live’ since 2003 – admits that the issue eventually became unmanageable for him.

He explained: “I was able to take something and patch it up for the moment, but I got to a point where that didn’t work anymore. That’s when it got serious.

“It was a suffering-in-silence situation. I don’t know if I was necessarily embarrassed to talk to a doctor – I just didn’t know if I needed to.”

Kenan finally decided to see a doctor in 2024, and he was ultimately diagnosed with gastroesophageal reflux disease, which is commonly known as GERD.

The comedy star was put on an acid blocker by his doctor and it has helped to control his symptoms.

He shared: “I felt relief pretty immediately.”

Kenan is now in “a good place” with his health, and he has a much clearer idea of how to control his symptoms, too.

The comedian – who is the longest-tenured cast member in the history of ‘Saturday Night Live’ – said: “God bless, I feel great. I’m in a much healthier kind of space with my daily lifestyle and meal decision-making and all of that good stuff. I’m in a good place.”