Hollywood heartthrob Jamie Dornan recently suffered a bizarre health scare that led him to the hospital. It was initially was believed that he was experiencing symptoms of a heart attack. However, it was later discovered that the Fifty Shades of Grey star had actually come in contact with toxic caterpillars while in Portugal. No, really. The revelation comes from the actor's close friend, Gordon Smart, who recounted the strange incident and revealed that he also experienced a similar situation last year.
Gordon Smart shared his recollection on BBC's The Good, the Bad and the Unexpected podcast. All in all, it sounds like this was a serious health ordeal that the two friends faced during their vacation. They initially attributed their symptoms to partying too hard but soon became concerned about experiencing heart complications. Gordon and the actor were on a golf trip last year when they became ill and needed hospital treatment, with Jamie Dornan even being rushed to the hospital via ambulance. The Scottish broadcaster recalled:
[The Doctor] asked me to list what we had to drink the day before, and as a Scottish man in Portugal, when you start saying, well, 'I think there was nine bottles of wine. Six expresso martinis.' And I could see him shaking his head, disgusted with the Scottish specimen in front of him. He then began to wire me up to other stuff, but as I was lying there, one of the other lads I was with went by on a hospital bed with doctors shouting the same questions to him.
His “mate” was none other than the Heart of Stone cast member. Gordon Smart continued:
I got out of the hospital, got back to the house, and my mate turned up back and; his name happens to be Jamie Doran, Hollywood star. And there he was with stuff attached to his chest and, 'Dear me, Gordon, about twenty minutes after you left, my left arm went numb, my left leg went numb, and my right leg went numb, and I found myself in the back of an ambulance.'
Despite overindulging in maybe one or two too many expresso martinis, the pair of friends soon found out their brush with death was caused by their brush with nature while on the golf course. The former Scottish Sun editor recalled:
About a week later, when we came back and we had just assest our lives, I got a call from the doctor who was looking after us and he told us something really interesting. He said, “Look, expresso martinis aside, at any stage did you come in contact with caterpillars on the golf course?” And he sent me a link to the Portugal Times about processionary caterpillars. And it turns out the caterpillars on the golf course in the south of Portugal have been killing people's dogs and giving men in their 40s heart attacks. It turns out we brushed against hairy processionary caterpillars and had been very lucky to come out of that one alive. The good news was it wasn't a caffeine overdose. Wasn’t a hangover. It was a poisonous, toxic caterpillar.
According to Forest Research, the caterpillars of the pine processionary moth have numerous tiny hairs carrying an irritating protein. This protein can cause skin, eye and throat discomfort, resulting in painful irritations. It's hard to imagine that a fuzzy larva can be so dangerous that it almost took out one of the James Bond shortlist contenders. Life can indeed be stranger than fiction at times.
Fortunately, both Jamie Dornan and Gordon received timely medical attention and survived the incident. We hope to see Dornan continue his successful acting career for many years. It would be great to see him collaborate with Kenneth Branagh again. He already worked with him as a Haunting in Venice cast member and when he played the role of a father in Branagh's Oscar-winning 2021 film, Belfast. I also wouldn't mind seeing him star in more wacky comedies like Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar.
One hopes he can continue exploring other acting opportunities after breaking through in the Fifty Shades series, which is available to stream with a Max subscription. However, I also hope he avoids dangerous caterpillars in the future.
Be sure to check out our 2024 movie schedule to see what's headed to a theater near you. And keep your eyes locked on it in case Jamie Dornan has a project that crops up there.
