Rudy Giuliani’s nurse-cum-girlfriend has provided an update on his condition, and says she expects him to make a full recovery.
Speaking to Fox News’ Jesse Watters on Monday night, Maria Ryan explained that the former New York City mayor and Trump lawyer began feeling ill after returning from a trip to Paris. Eventually, his breathing deteriorated to the point that he required hospitalization and was placed on a ventilator.
While his condition later turned critical, and a Catholic priest was summoned to perform last rites, it has since improved enough that he has been removed from the ventilator and is breathing independently. Giuliani, 81, remains in critical yet stable condition.
“He’s a fighter. The way he was yesterday in such a critical condition, he did have a priest come anoint him,” Ryan told Watters. “And all the prayers from around, it’s like a miracle.”
“This guy’s got nine lives; today he’s doing much better.” She added that she expects Giuliani to make a full recovery.
An update posted by Giuliani spokesperson Ted Goodman said that Giuliani had pneumonia that was a result of restrictive airway disease, which he developed in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 terror attacks that took place when he was mayor.
“Mayor Giuliani is the ultimate fighter—as he has demonstrated throughout his life—and he is winning this battle,” Goodman added.
Ryan, who was alternately described by Fox News as Giuliani’s nurse, doctor, and primary care provider, has a lengthy history with the former mayor.
While the pair have asserted that they are merely close friends, they attend official events together and spend holidays together, and Ryan was described in court documents as Giuliani’s girlfriend.
Ryan’s credentials are also unclear. When accused by one critic of not being a real doctor, Ryan, who calls herself Dr. Maria Ryan on social media, argued that she had a PhD and was a “board-certified nurse.”
“Therefore I can practice independently to diagnose, treat, prescribe etc,” she asserted.
As noted by the Independent, she earned her PhD from a now-defunct, unaccredited school known as Warren National University. In a 2004 Senate Committee on Governmental Affairs hearing, the school was described as “an unaccredited school with academic requirements that fail to meet the standards of legitimate institutions.”
In a statement to the Independent, Ryan defended her credentials, telling the outlet, “All four of my degrees are legitimate. When I started at [Warren National], it was accredited and my state recognizes it.”
The Daily Beast has contacted Fox News and Giuliani’s representatives for comment.
Giuliani’s hospitalization was announced on Saturday, when Goodman shared a statement on X.
“Mayor Rudy Giuliani is currently in the hospital, where he remains in critical but stable condition,” Goodman wrote, adding that, “We do ask that you join us in prayer for America’s Mayor Rudy Giuliani.”
The former mayor had hosted an episode of his show, America’s Mayor Live, on Friday from Palm Beach, during which he remarked that he was “a little under the weather.”
“My voice is a little under the weather,” he explained after coughing. “So I won’t be able to speak as loudly as I usually do, but I’ll get closer to the microphone.”
In classical Trumpian fashion, President Donald Trump offered well-wishes for his former lawyer before immediately seeking to blame Democrats for Giuliani’s illness.
“Our fabulous Rudy Giuliani, a True Warrior, and the Best Mayor in the History of New York City, BY FAR, has been hospitalized, and is in critical condition,” Trump, 79, wrote on Truth Social. “What a tragedy that he was treated so badly by the Radical Left Lunatics, Democrats ALL — AND HE WAS RIGHT ABOUT EVERYTHING! They cheated on the Elections, fabricated hundreds of stories, did anything possible to destroy our Nation, and now, look at Rudy. So sad!"
Giuliani was previously hospitalized in August after being rear-ended in a vehicle collision, suffering from a fractured thoracic vertebra, multiple lacerations and bruises, and injuries to his left arm and lower leg as a result.
