‘Drivers License,’ Got Olivia Rodrigo’s Ex Hospitalised With Heart Failure

Soon after the release of ‘Drivers License,’ Olivia Rodrigo’s ex-partner was admitted to the hospital with heart failure. On the set of High School Musical: The Musical: The Series, Joshua Bassett met Rodrigo. Despite the fact that the two have not publicly confirmed rumours that they dated, Bassett recently spoke to People about how Rodrigo’s hit ‘Sour’ track ‘Drivers License,’ which was released in January 2021, made him very stressed.

Bassett explained how receiving death threats on social media impacted his health after the song’s release, which is thought to have been inspired by the couple’s break-up.

“Every day I felt worse and worse,” he recalled of that period.

“I was sleeping 16 to 20 hours a day. I couldn’t even stand up for longer than 30 seconds.”

Six days following the release of ‘Drivers License,’ Bassett released his own song, ‘Lie Lie Lie.’ Some fans assumed the song was a retort to Rodrigo’s single, but he stated it had been scheduled to drop on that very day for a long time.

Upon its release, Bassett “felt [his] heart literally failing” and knew something was seriously wrong. “I was like, ‘This isn’t just anxiety. This is bad’,” he went on to explain to People.

He requested a ride to the hospital from a producer of High School Musical: The Musical: The Series, where he was diagnosed with septic shock of the heart.

“The doctors were like, ‘If you hadn’t checked in within 12 hours, you would have died in your apartment’,” remembered Bassett, who was told that the condition could have been stress-related.

“It’s wild that I was this close to taking another nap,” he added.

Bassett was discharged from the hospital after nine days, but said he became “even more depressed and stressed” despite recovering physically. “I had a panic attack every single day,” he continued.

Having experienced the trauma, Bassett said he felt that he emerged stronger.  “In this last year a lot of my biggest fears came true,” he said. “But in that, I found that I’ll always be OK, if not better off.”

Rodrigo reflected on “going through that awful heartbreak” during a recent appearance on The Drew Barrymore Show, adding that she felt “so responsible for it too in a way”.

Olivia Rodrigo will play at Glastonbury Festival in June, followed by a run of headline shows in the United Kingdom the following month.

–Silviya.Y