‘Better Call Saul’ Actor Russell Andrews Shares ALS Diagnosis in Moving CNN Interview

Russell Andrews, a veteran actor who’s appeared in “Better Caul Saul,” “Insecure,” and “Straight Outta Compton,” has revealed that he’s been living with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).

The 64-year-old shared the news Saturday evening on CNN’s “The Story Is with Elex Michaelson” alongside his fiancée, actress Erica Tazel (“Justified”). He said he was diagnosed with the disease — a neurodegenerative disorder that attacks nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord — in late fall of last year after experiencing pinched nerves and twitching, both common signs of early ALS.

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“I thought I had a stroke during COVID. It was a stressful time. We didn’t work for three years about, and then we had the back-to-back strikes,” explained Andrews, referring to the SAG-AFTRA strike and Writer’s Guild of America strikes that shut down Hollywood in 2023. “A lot was going on… There were moments, there were twitches. I thought I was having pinched nerves in my neck, and they were quite frequent. And I was not able to do things that I would normally do. I was dropping cups and glasses, and at night, it felt like things were running up and down my arms at certain times, and it was the nerves.”

Andrews said that he’d played football “well into college,” and “it appears that maybe CTE may be a source of this… we won’t know, of course, until everything is said and done and they can study the brain.”

Because Andrews wasn’t working for a number of years, he said that he’d lost his health insurance, so these early signs of ALS weren’t properly diagnosed.

“As soon as we came out of COVID, worked picked up and I was able to get back,” he said. “First place I went was to Cedars [Sinai]… and within 15 minutes, the primary care said that she would like me to see a neurologist. One thing led to another, and here we sit.”

Along with the ALS Network, which provides resources and cost-free care for those with ALS, as well as attempting to discover a cure, Andrews visited Washington, D.C. and met with politicians to discuss and shed light on the debilitating disease. Eric Dane, star of “Euphoria” and “Grey’s Anatomy,” passed away from ALS complications in February of this year.

Tazel opened up about how she’s still processing the news, but says her love for Andrews is “unconditional,” and she is still planning to move forward with their nuptials.

“When he shared the news with me… I looked at him across the room and I said, ‘At least now we know what it is — and I still want to be your wife.’”