Jamie Dornan Hospitalized for Heart Attack-Like Symptoms Due to Toxic Caterpillars
Gordon Smart shared the incident on BBC's 'The Good, the Bad and the Unexpected' podcast
Jamie Dornan, widely recognized for his role as Christian Grey in the Fifty Shades of Grey series, fell seriously ill during a vacation in Portugal last year. According to reports from the New York Post, the actor was on a boozy boys’ trip with his friend and ‘Good Morning Britain’ presenter, Gordon Smart.
Smart opened up about the incident on BBC’s ‘The Good, the Bad and the Unexpected’ podcast. He shared the story of a golf trip he took with three friends, including Dornan, “We had a great time the first day, played loads of golf, went out, lots of wine was drunk and then we got on to espresso martinis,” Smart recounted.
The morning after a night of drinking, they expected to feel a bit under the weather, but their symptoms were far worse than a typical hangover. Smart described feeling a tingling sensation in his left hand and arm, a classic sign of a potential heart attack. “I’m a fairly healthy guy, but once you start thinking you’re having a heart attack, you’re pretty sure that you’re convincing yourself that you are having one.” he admitted.
A Trip to the Hospital
Dornan revealed that he had also experienced numbness in his arm and legs shortly after Smart’s hospital visit. Consequently, they decided to return to the hospital together. However, a source close to Dornan refuted Smart’s account, telling People, “He never went into the hospital — he even played a game of golf the next day and won.”
But… What Happened to Them?
Smart mentioned that a week after their golfing trip, the doctor called him and asked if the group had encountered any caterpillars during their trip. “It turns out that golf courses in southern Portugal are home to caterpillars that have been responsible for fatalities involving dogs and heart attacks in men in their 40s,” Smart revealed.
These caterpillars have tiny hairs that can cause stinging sensations, and they contain an irritating protein called thaumetopoein. Contact with these caterpillars can result in skin, eye, and throat irritation, as well as rashes. In some cases, it may even lead to allergic reactions. So, Smart concluded that they were “very lucky to come out of that one alive.”