Rob Lowe Among Many Fighting Flu Epidemic

Why did Whoopi Goldberg want Rob Lowe to stay away from her? Because Rob Lowe has the flu, but appeared anyway on The View Thursday.

"I'm on Tamiflu. I'm five days in," said Lowe.

He's promoting his new lifetime movie, Prosecuting Casey Anthony.

Whoopi Goldberg actually leaned far away from the heartthrob, keeping about four feet of distance between them.

"You've always been a scaredy cat," said Lowe.

"That's right because that's how I've stayed alive," replied Goldberg.

Barbara Walters was braver, getting a peck on the check and even sitting next to the flu-suffering actor.

Walters said, "I would kiss you, but I don't want to get anything."

"You're not the first to say that," said Lowe.

All over TV, celebrities are fessing up to getting the flu. Anderson Cooper thinks he has it too. Guest host Marlon Wayans even backed away from Cooper and later, both of them put on flu masks.

The Today show hosts are so worried, they got flu shots on the air. Savannah Guthrie let the sting of the shot be known.

At a news conference for the new hosts of American Idol, Ryan Seacrest announced that Mariah Carey wasn't feeling well. Hopefully, it won't develop into the flu.

How bad can it get? One sufering INSIDE EDITION viewer named Temicka Lewis from Houston told our Diane McInerney, "Honestly, this is the worst I've ever felt in my life."

McInerney asked, "What are you using to get through this?"

"I do have my Kleenex and have gone through about five packs," said Lewis.

A flu epidemic scarces everyone who imagines it could turn into something like what was dramatized in the 2011 movie Contagion.

But this flu is tragically real for Amy Beauchamp from Fenton, Michigan. Beauchamp's 44-year-old husband, Kirk came down with stomach flu the day after Christmas, and the father of five was dead three days later.

"It just kept getting worse. I said, 'Why don't we go to the emergency room. You're probably dehydrated or something's going on.' So we went in, but he was just so, so sick," said Beauchamp.

She has this message for anyone who thinks they're coming down with the flu.

"I just never dreamt in a thousand years that something like that could take him from us."