Irish actor Jamie Dornan was hospitalised with heart attack symptoms after an encounter with toxic caterpillars during a recent trip to Portugal.The Fifty Shades of Grey star’s medical episode was made public by his friend Gordon Smart who experienced similar symptoms to Dornan and was similarly rushed to a Portuguese hospital for testing. The terrifying day was recalled when Smart, a former entertainment journalist, appeared on a UK podcast.
When their symptoms began, the men reportedly believed it was due to drinking espresso martinis the night before, when in reality it was sparked by a run in with toxic processionary caterpillars. The tiny hairs on the caterpillars contain a toxin that can cause rashes, eye irritation, coughing or even an allergic reaction.
Smart told the BBC’s The Good, the Bad and the Unexpected podcast that he felt a “tingling in his left hand and tickling in his left arm,” leaving them thinking it was “the sign of the start of a heart attack”.
“Now, 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,” Smart said.
The journalist was the first to experience the symptoms, going to the hospital for testing.
“Got an Uber, collapsed and woke up in a hospital bed, attached to a machine, with a doctor saying, ‘What on earth have you been doing, young man?’” he said.
He was later discharged and given the all-clear by doctors, before spotting Dornan being rolled past in a hospital bed, also undergoing tests.
The golfers’ symptoms were caused by processionary caterpillars.
The golfers’ symptoms were caused by processionary caterpillars. Credit: Arterra/Universal Images Group via Getty
“I had to sort of ride it out, it was a pretty scary time.”
“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, and I found myself in the back of an ambulance,’” he said.
“Anyway, as he left the hospital, the paramedics asked them for a selfie, which is really what you want when you’re being wheeled out of a hospital room.”
Smart said that the following week the doctors called to share the cause of their symptoms.
“And it turns out that 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,” he explained.
“So there’s my story; the good news is it wasn’t a caffeine overdose, it wasn’t a hangover — it was a poisonous, toxic caterpillar.”
Dornan has not publicly addressed the incident.
The actor is best known for playing Christian Grey in the hit series Fifty Shades of Grey along with TV
