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Cojo before and after his kidney transplants

Steven Cojocaru spoke with Mary Hart recently about his kidney transplants and his difficult recovery.

Cojocaru had to undergo a second kidney transplant after the first one failed. A friend donated the kidney the first time, and mom did the second.

Cojo is promoting his new book, Glamour, Interrupted: How I Became the Best-Dressed Patient in Hollywood. It hits shelves tomorrow.

“I didn’t expect to be so candid in this book. I really didn’t. I didn’t know where I would go with this book. I know that before it started, I got very emotional and very afraid. I was also on steroids. And I was a crazy person. You cannot make lucid decisions when you are on steroids.”

Cojo says he reacted badly with the steroids, which caused him to slip into a deep depression.

“I had a huge emotional fallout. There was such a dark streak. I’m so ashamed of the way I treated my parents, the most gentle, angelic people in the world. I was like a dragon. I was spewing blood and fire. The slightest thing would set me off. And I felt guilty. There were huge guilt issues.”

He adds that he was afraid he would lose his career but support from a few celebrity friends helped ease his mind and boost his spirits.

“To get a personal phone call from [Sarah Jessica Parker] that was so heartfelt, elegant and lovely — I don’t think she realizes how much that meant…Renee Zellweger sent me a balloon. I know that sounds simple, but I can’t tell you how, in a dark moment, it put such a smile on my face.”

Cojohopes to raise awareness on organ donating so that people in need don’t have to wait years for a transplant.

“What I’ve experienced is so powerful. I’ve seen the worst, but I’ve also seen the best. … I’m not making any proclamations that I’m going to save the world. I do want to shake things up, and I want to make people aware of kidney disease.”

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