Rita Wilson has given her first interview since recovering from coronavirus and warned of the “extreme side effects” she suffered from the treatment she received.

The actress and her husband Tom Hanks were the first high profile names to test positive for Covid-19 last month.

The couple, who were in Australia where Tom was working on an Elvis Presley biopic, have both since made a full recovery.

On Tuesday, Rita appeared on the US daytime show The Talk, where she discussed her ordeal with host Gayle King.

Detailing her symptoms, the 63-year-old said: “I felt extremely achy, uncomfortable, didn’t want to be touched, and then the fever started.

She added that she suffered from “chills like I never had before.”

Rita said her fever reached its highest temperature about nine days following the positive test results, saying it “got close to” 39C.

She also revealed she had been given the drug chloroquine, which is usually used to prevent and treat malaria and is being studied as a possible Covid-19 treatment, but is not sure what impact it had on her. 

She said: “I can only tell you that I don’t know if the drug worked or if it was just time for my fever to break, but my fever did break.”

Revealing that the drug had “extreme side effects”, she said she felt “completely nauseous” and could not walk, adding that “my muscles felt very weak.”

“I think people have to be very considerate about that drug,” she warned. “We don’t really know if it’s helpful in this case.”

She also said her Toy Story star husband, also 63, had less severe symptoms than her.

The couple are now back at home in Los Angeles.