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Who is Susan Mikula? MSNBC's Rachel Maddow back on air, says she thought Covid-19 'might kill her partner'

'The bottom line is that she is going to be fine. She is still sick, but she is going to be okay,' said Maddow

MSNBC news anchor Rachel Maddow hosted her eponymous show from her house on Thursday, November 19, opening up about her partner, of almost 21 years, Susan Mikula, being diagnosed with Covid-19. She said Mikula is “the center of my universe” and how terrifying it was when she got sick.

“Susan has been sick with Covid these past couple of weeks, and at one point we thought that there was a possibility that it might kill her, and that’s why I have been away,” Maddow shared, “She has not only been positive over this time but she has gotten sicker and sicker, while I have tried to care for her while still staying physically apart from her. The bottom line is that she is going to be fine. She is still sick, but she is going to be okay.” Maddow said she had continued to test negative for Covid-19 since Mikula's diagnosis.

Maddow also said that this year’s Thanksgiving "is going to suck" but it will "suck so much less than you or somebody in your family getting this and getting sick. Trust me." She added, "I’m guessing that you might be willing to risk yourself. Especially after all these months and all this time, it’s so frustrating," But she also said, "Don’t get this thing. Do whatever you can to keep from getting it. I would’ve done anything, I would’ve moved mountains for it to have been me who was sick these past couple of weeks instead of Susan. I still would. But this thing does not give you that choice." Maddow stated, "It won’t necessarily be you, it’ll be the person you most care about in the world, and all you can do to stop that is move heaven and earth to not get it and to not transmit it." The video was shared from the Maddow Blog on Twitter.

A lot of people weighed in on the impassioned message. One user said, “Did I really just cry over #maddow?! I love her so much, am so glad she’s ok and is back, but I am shattered for her that he beloved Susan has Covid. Maddow’s advice is salient: this may not happen to YOU, it may happen to the person you care most about.”

Journalist Bianna Golodryga said, “You genuinely forget you’re watching tv. This was that raw and emotional. I don’t know how @maddow kept it together for those 7 minutes, but thank God Susan is recovering.” A user tweeted, “God bless and protect Rachel Maddow and her partner, Susan. This opening to the show tonight is the best thing in the world right now.” Another shared, “My husband has been battle covid since the end of October. Rachel speaking about Susan tonight is everything to me right now.”

Politician Jaime Harrison said, .@Maddow praying for you and Susan!  Folks, please think of your loved ones and do all that you can do to stay safe!  So many of us are weary but we can’t give up now.  Stay vigilant but most importantly Stay safe!"

Rachel Maddow and Susan Mikula’s love story

The New York Times Magazine reported that Maddow’s community was conservative and Catholic; and in high school, even before she came out as gay, she was going over to Oakland to volunteer at an AIDS clinic. At 17, she enrolled at Stanford and came out almost immediately, in an open letter she posted inside every bathroom stall in her dorm.

According to The New York Times Magazine, after college, Maddow received a Rhodes scholarship to Oxford, but she didn’t stay on campus long. “I wasn’t psyched about living in a student-dominated environment,” she said. So, she went to London, where she worked at an AIDS clinic while she studied, and then on to rural Massachusetts, where she completed her Oxford dissertation on H.I.V./AIDS health care outcomes in the prison system. While there, she also worked odd jobs to make money and that’s when she met her partner of almost 21 years, photographer Susan Mikula. She arrived at Mikula’s home to uproot tree stumps and clear thorny thickets from her lawn. The couple then went on their first date at a ‘Ladies Day on the Range’ sponsored by the National Rifle Association (Mikula’s sister is a member), at which they shot guns and threw tomahawks and had a blast.