Jamie Dornan had a close encounter with toxic caterpillars and ended up in the hospital with heart attack-like symptoms. The Fifty Shades of Grey actor reportedly became ill while on vacation in Portugal after a run-in with these fuzzy critters while playing golf with his journalist friend Gordon Smart. Smart also experienced unusual symptoms that led him to seek medical assistance.
During a guest appearance on the BBC show The Good, the Bad and the Unexpected, Gordon Smart explained how the killer caterpillars sidelined him and his actor buddy. “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 recalled.
However, things took a turn for the worse the following day… and not from a hangover. “We played golf, we were all absolutely dreadful. I started to feel tingling in my left hand and then tickling in my left arm,” Smart explained. “I’m the son of a [doctor] and thought: ‘This is normally the sign of the start of a heart attack.”
The Hairy Culprit Allegedly Behind Jamie Dornan’s Heart Attack Scare
While Smart felt it was likely nothing, he wanted to be safe. He received treatment at a nearby hospital. He noted that the doctor who treated him was taken aback by his previous day of drunken debauchery. “Well, I think there were nine bottles of white wine, I had six espresso martinis” and I could see [the doctor] shaking his head disgusted with the Scottish specimen in front of him,” Smart recalled.
Upon his return to the hotel, Smart learned that his buddy Jamie Dornan had the same heart attack symptoms. Smart recounted Dornan’s detailing of his toxic caterpillar drama. “Jamie said: ‘Dear me. Gordon, about 20 minutes after you left, my left arm went numb, my left leg went numb, my right leg went numb. I found myself in the back of an ambulance.”
Gordan Smart claimed both he and Jamie Dornan made complete recoveries from their heart attack scares. A week later, Smart received a call from the doctor who treated him. The doctor informed him that both his and Jamie’s symptoms could have been caused by toxic caterpillars. “It turns out we’d brushed up against hairy processionary caterpillars,” Smart explained. “[We were] very lucky to come out of that one alive.”
Smart recounted reports of the dangerous caterpillars causing havoc at the resort he and Dornan stayed at. “There are caterpillars on golf courses in the south of Portugal that have been killing people’s dogs and giving men in their 40s heart attacks.”