The actress welcomed her son Evan with ex-husband John Asher

Photo: Gabe Ginsberg/Getty Images

Jenny McCarthy is opening up about the emotions she experienced during her son’s near-death experience.

In an exclusive clip shared with PEOPLE ahead of the Tuesday, March 25 episode of Maria Menounos’ Heal Squad podcast, the John Tucker Must Die actress, 52, detailed harrowing moments from a serious health scare involving her son Evan. Before learning of his autism diagnosis, McCarthy said that he would have “life-threatening” seizures, and recalled a time when he went into cardiac arrest.

“Waiting for the paramedics when he went into cardiac arrest for that seizure — there’s nothing worse,” she recalls to Menounos. “He’s 2½ years old. He’s turning blue and I’m on the phone with 911, like screaming at them to hurry up and they can’t come fast enough.”

“I had so many conversations with God in that moment of like bring back my boy,” she says, sharing that the paramedics had to bring her son back to life twice and she contemplated taking her own life if he didn’t survive. “And, then I got the autism diagnosis shortly after that, I hit such a low course being compounded with that — the seizures and the autism diagnosis — I just remember crying so hard in the shower, like one of those scenes you see in a movie where you’re like in so much pain, … and that felt so helpless.”

The actress welcomed her only child, son Evan Joseph Asher, on May 18, 2002, with her ex-husband, John Asher. The pair split in 2005, and she married Donnie Wahlberg, who became Evan’s devoted stepfather. McCarthy is also a stepmom to the New Kids on the Block member’s two sons from a previous relationship.

In 2007, McCarthy revealed that Evan had been diagnosed with autism when he was around 3 years old. Since then, she’s been vocal about her son’s diagnosis and even wrote a book about her experience raising a son with autism titled Louder Than Words: A Mother’s Journey in Healing Autism.

“I know why God gave me Evan. He is a wonderful teacher and an inspiration to the world,” she said during a 2008 appearance on Oprah. “It made me who I am today.”

Jenny McCarthy with her husband Donnie Wahlberg and son Evan.Jenny McCarthy/Instagram

Now, the 22-year-old is exploring a career in music, thanks to the help of his family. In February 2023, debuted his first original song, “It Doesn’t Matter.”

Evan, an aspiring writer, filmmaker, gamer and content creator, was inspired to write the song by his celebrity crush, Selena Gomez, and worked on it alone for some time before presenting the lyrics to stepdad. While Evan wasn’t exactly sure what was next for him, he was hopeful that, if nothing else, the song would highlight the reasons why Gomez’s music is so important to so many others.

“One of the many reasons why I admire and respect Selena Gomez is her ability to be brave no matter what life throws at her,” Evan explained to PEOPLE. “I, too, have struggled with my health and relationships, and because Selena has been so open about her struggles, it has helped me find the confidence and inner strength to get through the toughest of times. I wrote this song to let her know how much I appreciate her, and I wish her all the love and happiness in the world because she deserves it.”