Bret Michaels: Surprise ‘Idol’ Performance Was ‘Most Amazing Feeling Ever’

Bret Michaels shocked the nation – not to mention his doctors – when he stepped out on the “American Idol” stage at the show’s finale on Wednesday night, and the health-stricken star said it was well worth it.

“It was honestly the most amazing feeling ever,” he told AccessHollywood.com’s Laura Saltman of playing the Poison classic “Every Rose Has Its Thorn” alongside former “Idol” castoff Casey James. “To be alive, to be out here on ‘American Idol’ and have such an awesome opportunity to come back and play my first performance live again… it was really an amazing experience.”

Bret added that he almost lost it when he saw the crowd cheering and standing up.

“The lump in the throat, I got that lump,” he said.

The rocker, who won “The Celebrity Apprentice” on Sunday in another surprising appearance, explained that the performance had “been in the works for a while.”

“It’s been a pretty rough month,” he said of suffering an emergency appendectomy, a brain hemorrhage and the discovery of a whole in his heart. “This was a great way to just feel healthy and come back.”

He had such a good “Idol” experience that Bret said he might be the man to replace departing judge Simon Cowell.

“I love musicians, I won’t be able to cut a lot of people down, that could be my downfall,” he said. “But I could give great constructive criticism from a guy who’s actually lived it from the very beginning in my basement. I would take a meeting, for sure.”

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