DALLAS — Bishop TD Jakes, a celebrity preacher and senior pastor of The Potter’s House in Dallas, confirmed Wednesday he suffered a “massive heart attack” while delivering a sermon last year.
The incident occurred in November 2024 while Jakes was delivering a sermon on stage. Video from the service shows Jakes losing his speech and shaking while church members rushed him off the stage, leading to an outpouring of prayer from his congregation.
In an interview with The Today Show Wednesday, Jakes said he didn’t realize he had suffered a heart attack until he arrived at a hospital.
“I almost died,” Jakes told the Today Show. “The doctor said five minutes later I would have been dead on arrival.
The Potter’s House confirmed the diagnosis in a statement to WFAA . Jakes added that the right side of his heart was not working at all when he arrived at the hospital.
Jakes leads a congregation of more than 30,000 at the Potter’s House Church in Dallas, a non-denominational mega church located near the Dallas Baptist University campus. Hours after he was taken off the stage and rushed to the hospital, the church issued a statement saying Jakes experienced a “slight health incident and received immediate medical attention,” WFAA previously reported.
Later that month, when Jakes returned to the pulpit, he said the incident “could have been fatal.” He added that he was focused on recuperating from what we now know was heart surgery.
Today, he is back at work and preaching consistently at The Potters House. He described experiencing an out-of-body, spiritual experience after suffering from a heart attack.
“I was on my way out,” Jakes said. “In retrospect, it was such privilege to stand on the other side and to get a little glimpse of what that might be like, or at least what it was like in that moment for me.”
He also thanked his church family for praying for his health while undergoing surgery and in the months following his procedure.
Jakes also addressed his ongoing legal battle against two men who claim Jakes groomed and attempted to sexually assault him in the 80s. Jakes denied the allegations and filed a defamation lawsuit against the two men.
“We’re living in a time of misinformation and disinformation that is hard to live with,” Jakes told The Today Show. “We’re living in a time right now of people being misaligned and seldom challenged.”
The two men filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit against them.
Jakes also addressed an ongoing legal battle with Google. Jakes alleges the company allowed AI-generated images of him and Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs, who is currently jailed on sex trafficking and racketeering charges, to proliferate.
The heart attack and various legal battles have not slowed him down, Jakes said.
“I’m getting faster! Because one, I’m older, two, I’m grateful and three, I’ve got something to say.”