Candace Bergen Had Secret Stroke

Murphy Brown and Boston Legal star Candace Bergen very quietly had a stroke six years ago. She returned to work just two weeks later, but her memory is still "not quite the same," the actress reveals in a surprising New York Magazine interview. Bergen, now 65, is reluctant to discuss the stroke because "I just don't want it to be a liability," explains the actress, who's now making her Broadway debut in Gore Vidal's the Best Man. She admits she was nervous about doing theater. “My concern with theater was no retakes,” Bergen says. “I had no confidence in my memory." Now she's "so grateful" she decided to take on the challenge. Bergen is just the latest major actress to reveal secret health problems. Earlier this month Kathy Bates said she kept a diagnosis of ovarian cancer under wraps because she was under contract to do a movie at the time. (More Candace Bergen stories.)