Secret DJ condemns ‘plague raves’ as he tells how he ‘died for five minutes’ during weeks-long COVID coma
A British DJ who spent weeks in a coma after contracting coronavirus in Ibiza has told how he “died for five minutes” during his ordeal – and says he has received death threats for speaking out against others in the industry who continued to perform during the pandemic.
Known as The Secret DJ, the 51-year-old has not played live since November 2019 and had been warning of the dangers of COVID-19 and “plague raves” long before he contracted the Delta variant himself early in July of this year.
However, he claims some in the industry travelled abroad during the pandemic to perform in countries with fewer restrictions than their own. “You’ve killed people and you don’t even want to know about it,” he says, of any who did.
Warning: This article contains images of injuries
After falling ill himself and being flown by helicopter to Majorca for treatment, the DJ – who does not reveal his identity, having written books anonymously about the industry – told Sky News he was left “like a corpse”, his body ravaged by the virus, and that he later found out his heart had stopped while he was in an induced coma.
Doctors told him being vaccinated had most likely saved his life. The virus left him with lung damage, while his weeks in a hospital bed left him with severe muscle atrophy, but by September he was back at home in Ibiza and having physio.
However, the story doesn’t stop there. During a cycle ride at the beginning of November, as he began exercising to get himself back to strength, he put his foot down coming to a stop – and his leg, weakened following his time in hospital, “shattered”.
After undergoing surgery, the DJ has been told it may be months before he can walk again. Unable to work, he has set up a GoFundMe account to help with his medical bills. Despite the discomfort, he describes his leg injury as “a birthday present” compared with the “six weeks of living hell” of having COVID-19, and wants to warn others that lives are still at risk.
“You very much learn the difference between discomfort and pain [when you are seriously ill with COVID],” he tells Sky News. “Constant and intense discomfort is the sort of thing you torture people with.
“Pain peaks and troughs, it disappears, but [this was] constant, intense discomfort, like every time you breathe – which is what, 20,000 times a day? It’s like drowning 20,000 times a day.”
‘You were dead’: Waking up in hospital on a different island
The DJ pictured in hospital in Majorca. He had written ‘sin cerebro’ – ‘without brain’ in Spanish – as a joke on a bedpan
When he fell ill – he thinks he contracted the virus going out to watch England play Italy in the Euro 2020 final – he recognised the symptoms; the DJ believes he previously had COVID early in 2020, but could not test for it at the time. This time round, and after having his first vaccine, he decided to stay at home and isolate.
By day 10, he says he was passing out, injuring his head when he keeled over in his kitchen. Luckily, he came to long enough to call emergency services.
The DJ awoke in hospital in Majorca, not realising he had been there for several weeks. While he speaks a little Spanish, he says the language barrier meant he was not aware at first of the full extent of what he had been through.
“When I was welI enough one day I got up [out of bed] to adjust the blinds,” he says. “A doctor came in and said, ‘What are you doing, man? You had double pneumonia. I had my hand in your chest cavity two weeks ago. You were dead’.”
He says he was told his heart had stopped for five minutes.
By the time he was well enough to be discharged and fly home, his appearance had changed dramatically. “I was [like] a corpse. I was about half my size, I was practically translucent.”
He found himself being taken in a wheelchair through Ibiza airport, surrounded by “my people, the kids I make dance” as they arrived for holidays.
The after-effects of weeks in hospital
The DJ was left with serious injuries after breaking his leg – due to being left with weak bones following weeks of being bedbound in hospital
Determined to get back to normal, his recovery at home was going well – until the bike accident. His leg was snapped in three places, his foot dangling.
Now, he is starting recovery all over again. “[The doctor] says I will walk again one day,” he says. “He said it might take six months, might take a year, but he says you can come back from it. And I know I can come back from it because I’ve come back from worse than this.”
It is one of the many complications of being seriously ill with COVID-19, he says, of having to spend so long in a hospital bed without moving.
So he wants his story to be a cautionary tale.
“It’s really simple, you know, just imagine it might be you who dies. Just imagine it might be you that’s in an iron lung. Just imagine it might be your mum that dies.
“When I was in intensive care in Majorca, there were kids in there, perfectly healthy kids, children. There was people in their 80s. It doesn’t discriminate.
“The doctor said to me, ‘you’d be dead if you hadn’t had the vaccine’. People say, ‘you got the jab, but you got COVID anyway’, like it’s an excuse not to have a jab. No, I got the jab and I didn’t die because I had it.”
‘COVID isn’t going anywhere’: A warning to others
The DJ says he was a resident at some big clubs in Ibiza under his own name before creating The Secret DJ
The Secret DJ has not performed since 2019, has had no paid DJing work for two years. He describes himself as “a mid-range DJ” who played internationally and had been a resident at some of Ibiza’s biggest clubs.
Before The Secret DJ took hold he performed under his own name, but had started performing under the guise – behind a screen – just before COVID-19 hit.
During the pandemic, he used social media and wrote for industry publications urging others not to travel to countries with fewer restrictions to perform when lockdowns were in place in the UK or Spain and elsewhere.
Now that many lockdowns have lifted, he says believes people still need to consider mass events carefully.
“I spent the entire COVID period telling people not to DJ,” he says. “We call them plague raves – don’t plague rave, don’t spread COVID. Because some DJs were individual super-spreader events, they were literally flying all over the world throughout COVID, wherever they could possibly play.
“My DJs, my people who have been travelling around the world – you’ve killed people.”
He says he has received death threats for speaking out.
“When you p*ss off the fans of somebody very famous, it goes very badly, basically. You can get hundreds of death threats a day if you p*ss off the right person.
“It’s not my place to tell anybody what to do, but you must be aware there are consequences. COVID is still there. If you go out, somebody could get sick. Are you okay with that?
“It’s your decision – but it’s not going anywhere, and it kills people.”
Entertainment
Los Angeles fires: Hanks, Affleck, Witherspoon and Star Wars legend among stars evacuated as fires spread
Hollywood celebrities are among thousands of people to have been evacuated from their homes as fires rip through areas of Los Angeles.
Sky News’ US correspondent Martha Kelner reported that Tom Hanks, Ben Affleck and Reese Witherspoon were all evacuated on Tuesday as wildfires continued to spread in the Pacific Palisades suburb of LA.
The blaze spreading there is one of four raging in California.
Follow latest: At least two killed as flames spread
The US flag flies as flames from the Palisades Fire engulf a structure during a windstorm on the west of Los Angeles. Pic: Reuters
A wildfire-ravaged property in the Pacific Palisades neighbourhood of Los Angeles. Pic: AP
The area, which is home to billionaires as well as Hollywood A-listers, is located between Santa Monica and Malibu.
Other celebrities who have fled their homes include the award-winning actor James Woods, who said last night he had been safely evacuated from his home in Pacific Palisades.
But he added in a post on X: “I do not know at this moment if our home is still standing.”
Actor Mark Hamill, best known for playing Luke Skywalker in the Star Wars films, also posted on social media last night saying he evacuated his home in Malibu and his family were “fleeing for our lives”.
This Is Us actress Mandy Moore was also forced to leave her home due to the fires.
She said in two Instagram stories she had fled the Eaton fire, which is raging near Altadena, with her children, cats and dog. They have found temporary refuge with friends.
The actress said: “Trying to shield the kids from the immense sadness and worry I feel.
“Praying for everyone in our beautiful city. So gutted for the destruction and loss. Don’t know if our place made it.”
Mark Hamill and Mandy Moore fled their homes. File Pics: Reuters
Tom Hanks, Reese Witherspoon and Ben Affleck were all evacuated from their homes. Pics: AP
According to Velvet Ropes, which maps celebrity properties, Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson, Matt Damon, Steven Spielberg, Hilary Swank and Sally Field all have homes close to where fires are raging.
Dr Dre, Adam Brody and Leighton Meester, Tyra Banks, Martin Short, Anna Faris, Milo Ventimiglia, Linda Cardellini, Mary McDonnell, Adam Sandler, Miles Teller, and Jennifer Love Hewitt are also said to have houses in affected areas.
The Palisades Fire burns a Christmas tree inside a residence in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood. Pic: AP
The skyline of Los Angeles covered with smoke due to wildfires raging in the area. Pic: Reuters
In neighbouring Malibu, which was also affected by fires in December, stars including Beyonce and Jay-Z, Kim Kardashian, Lady Gaga and Billie Eilish are said to be among the celebrity residents.
The Palisades blaze has already burnt through more than 11,000 acres of land while the Eaton one has caused the death of two people, Los Angeles County fire chief Anthony Marrone said on Wednesday.
The two other fires are known as Woodley and Hurst, after the main areas affected.
All four blazes are still growing, Mr Marrone said.
Entertainment
Star of The Hills and Made In Chelsea says family’s homes have burnt down in LA wildfires
A reality TV personality known for appearing on shows like The Hills and Made In Chelsea has told Sky News her family have lost their homes in the California wildfires.
Stephanie Pratt, a model and the sister of fellow reality TV celebrity Spencer Pratt, lives in the Pacific Palisades in Los Angeles, where more than 30,000 people have fled their homes due to the fast-moving blaze.
Los Angeles fire chief Anthony Marrone said on Wednesday that the Palisades fire is still growing and that “well over 5,000 acres” have been burnt.
At least two people have been killed so far, with around 1,000 buildings destroyed.
Follow latest: Two killed in LA wildfires
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House surrounded by flames during wildfire
The flames burning down a home in Los Angeles. Pic: AP
Some of the damage after the wildfire. Pic: AP
California governor Gavin Newsom earlier declared a state of emergency over the four wildfires in the south of the state.
Speaking to Sky News from London, an emotional Ms Pratt said: “It’s just so crazy, I had no idea what was happening.
“I talked to my dad yesterday and he said ‘The Palisades is burning’. He said that he was at my brother’s house on Chautauqua [Boulevard] and they were just watching the flames come.
“The firefighters came and said you got to leave.”
Former Made In Chelsea star Stephanie Pratt speaking to Sky News
Map showing wildfires in California.
‘I don’t know if my house is there’
Ms Pratt said her parents and brother Spencer, who like her starred in the reality series The Hills, were safely evacuated from the area.
However, the 38-year-old added that “all of the phones are disconnected” and that she doesn’t know what had happened to her home.
“I talked to my neighbour last night and she told me that [Palisades Charter High School] had burnt down, and that’s directly behind me, and so had Gelson’s Supermarket which is adjacent,” she said.
“I just can’t reach anyone to see if my house is okay. I just Googled it and it said that it’s destroyed and terrible… I don’t know if my house is there.”
Read more:
Terrifying firestorm tears through film stars’ homes
Why are there wildfires in January?
Reality TV personality Stephanie Pratt in 2010. Pic: Reuters
‘This is where they raised their kids’
When she asked her dad about Spencer, 41, who is married to 38-year-old Heidi Montag – another co-star of The Hills – Ms Pratt said he told her “I’ve never seen him like this”.
“I’m assuming he’s just completely catatonic,” she added. “We don’t care about the material things or anything like that, but this was their family home.
“This is where they raised their two little kids.”
Spencer Pratt and Heidi Montag at the MTV Video Music Awards in 2008. Pic: Reuters
The Palisades fire is one of five blazes currently burning in southern California – evacuation orders were in place on Tuesday in Altadena after another fire, called the Eaton fire, started near a nature preserve.
A third blaze, called the Hurst fire, also ripped through Sylmar in the north of the city.
And according to the state department Cal Fire, two more blazes – the Woodley fire in Los Angeles and Tyler fire in Riverside – broke out on Wednesday.
Two School Of Rock co-stars, who met at the age of 10, have got married.
Caitlin Hale and Angelo Massagli, who played Marta and Frankie respectively in the 2003 classic alongside Jack Black, tied the knot in New York on Saturday.
The couple brought some of the original cast of the film, which centres on a pretend substitute teacher turning a group of musically gifted school children into a rock band, together to celebrate their nuptials.
Posting on Instagram, Hale, 33, shared various images of the day, including a photobooth picture with a handful of their former cast mates.
The former actress, who now works as a sonographer, wrote under the post: “Special thank you to everyone who contributed to an unforgettable day!”
Caitlin Hale (middle) with Maryam Hussan and Jack Black. Pic: Andrew Schwartz/Paramount/Scott Rudin Prods/Mfp/New Century/Sor Prods/Kobal/Shutterstock
Rivkah Reyes, who played bass player Katie in the film, also posted about the wedding, sharing a video on TikTok.
The clip, set to Stevie Nicks’s Edge Of Seventeen, included cameos from Brian Falduto, who played Billy, Joey Gaydos Jr, who played Zack, and Aleisha Allen, who played Alicia, among others.
The use of the song was a nod to one of the scenes from the film where Black and Joan Cusack, who plays headteacher Rosalie Mullins, sing the song in a bar.
“Celebrating the marriage of Caitlin & Angelo with my forever fam #schoolofrock #wedding,” Reyes wrote alongside the video, which showed them all dancing together.
After appearing together in the film the only contact Hale and Massagli had was through a WhatsApp chat set up with the entire cast, according to The New York Times.
The pair then both left show business and coincidentally reconnected while studying in schools in Florida.
Massagli, 32, who now works as a lawyer for TikTok, according to The Times, told the paper the familiarity they both had due to working together when they were younger “cut through some of those early relationship hurdles”.
The couple got engaged in June 2023.
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