Star Trek actor William Shatner has taken to social media to downplay concerns about his health, stating: “Rumours of my demise have been greatly exaggerated.”

Reports had said the 94-year-old was “rushed to hospital” on Wednesday local time because of a medical emergency.

Under the headline “Medical scare sends Captain Kirk to hospital”, celebrity news website TMZ published photos of a Los Angeles City Fire Department ambulance outside Shatner’s home.

It said the actor had experienced an issue with his blood-sugar levels.

However, Shatner’s agent later issued a statement saying the star had not actually been admitted to hospital.

“He is fine,” Harry Gold told USA Today. “I spoke to Mr Shatner yesterday, and he sounded strong and his same old self.”

The actor, best known for commanding the USS Enterprise as Captain Kirk in the original series of Star Trek, also made light of the incident in a post on X which was accompanied by a winky emoji and a photograph of himself playing Mark Twain in the television drama Murdoch Mysteries.

“I over indulged,” he wrote.

“I thank you all for caring but I’m perfectly fine. I keep telling you all: don’t trust tabloids or AI!”

I over indulged. I thank you all for caring but I’m perfectly fine. I keep telling you all: don’t trust tabloids or AI! 😉 pic.twitter.com/p1jC202kAx

— William Shatner (@WilliamShatner) September 25, 2025

Despite his age, Shatner has remained active and often makes public appearances, as well as working on projects that are tied to his work as Captain Kirk.

In 2021, the actor became the oldest human to travel into space when he joined three others on businessman Jeff Bezos’s mission on the rocketship New Shepard, saying afterwards that he found the experience overwhelming.

“I hope I never recover from this,” Shatner said after the rocketship touched down again in the Texas desert.

“I’m so filled with emotion about what just happened. It’s extraordinary, extraordinary. It’s so much larger than me and life.”

William Shatner (with Leonard Nimoy) as Captain James T Kirk.

Earlier in September, the star revealed he never made a penny from the Star Trek re-runs.

Speaking about his time on the show – which originally ran from 1966 until 1969 – Shatner told The Daily Telegraph newspaper: “Nobody knew about re-runs.

“The concept of syndication only came in after Star Trek was cancelled when someone from the unions said, ‘Wait a minute, you’re replaying all those films, those shows’.

“There was a big strike. But in the end, the unions secured residual fees shortly after Star Trek finished, so I didn’t benefit.”

However, Shatner – who was married to actress Gloria Rand at the time of filming Star Trek and has three daughters with her – insisted the program did pay him well.

The original Star Trek television series has become a multi-billion-dollar cultural phenomenon in the decades since it launched.

It will celebrate its 60^th anniversary next year, with Paramount recently announcing an extensive line-up of celebration plans. They include the launch of a new series, Star Trek: Starfleet Academy, which will air in early 2026 and feature a cast including Holly Hunter and Paul Giamatti.

–with agencies