Michaels' appearance on 'Idol' was well-kept secret

Bret Michaels' surprise appearance on "American Idol" was a very well-kept secret, the musician said.

"The doctors, I didn't tell them I was going to do this," Michaels told Us magazine. "I never told them I was coming here. They're going to find out in a few minutes!"

As for his family, Michaels explained, "I may not have told them, either," he said.

Acknowledging to "Access Hollywood" that "It's been a pretty rough month," he nonetheless called the cameo "the most amazing feeling ever."

He said, "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."

Michaels - recovering from an emergency appendectomy, a massive brain hemorrhage and a warning stroke - performed his band Poison's 1980s hit "Every Rose Has Its Thorn," alongside third-place finisher Casey James.