Ashton Kutcher opens up about his battle with rare form of vasculitis

2022-12-06

‘It knocked out my balance… I couldn’t walk’: Ashton Kutcher opens up about battling a rare form of vasculitis – after breaking down in tears while recalling when twin brother flatlined in hospital

Ashton Kutcher has opened about his battle with the rare autoimmune disease speaking about the condition for the first time in an emotional interview
In a clip released ahead of the anticipated sit-down, Kutcher, now 44, recounted how he was one day suddenly stricken with the disease
Kutcher’s flareups, which cleared up roughly two years ago, saw the star temporarily lose his vision, as well as his ability to walk
Kutcher first revealed he had the ailment a few months ago, during an episode of National Geographic’s ‘Running Wild with Bear Grylls: The Challenge’
Vasculitis is an inflammation of blood vessels that can cause organ and tissue damage. It is rare, with less than 200,000 US cases a year, but can prove fatal

Ashton Kutcher has opened up about his battle with a rare autoimmune disease that affects his hearing, sight and ability to walk.

Called vasculitis, Kutcher first revealed he had the ailment a few months ago, during an episode of National Geographic’s ‘Running Wild with Bear Grylls: The Challenge.’

At the time, the former Punk’d host – who is married to Mila Kunis – told Grylls the condition suddenly surfaced in recent years, and he’d been secretly battling it behind for the better part of a year, and that it even robbed him of the ability to walk.

On Monday, Kutcher offered new insight, describing debilitating symptoms that disrupted his life, while at a point sharing an emotional moment with his twin brother, Michael, who was born with cerebral palsy.

Vasculitis is an inflammation of blood vessels that can cause organ and tissue damage.

Kutcher’s flareups, which cleared up roughly two years ago, also saw the star temporarily lose his vision.

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Ashton Kutcher has opened about his battle with a rare autoimmune disease that affects his hearing, sight, and ability to walk – speaking about the condition for the first time in an emotional interview for an interview that streams Tuesday on Paramount+

In a clip released ahead of the sit-down, Kutcher, now 44, recounted to Agus he was one day stricken with the disease, which is thought to be a disturbance of the body’s immune system

https://youtube.com/watch?v=lR4IRx9x71g%3Frel%3D0%26showinfo%3D1%26hl%3Den-US

In a clip released ahead of the anticipated sit-down, Kutcher, now 44, recounted how he was one day suddenly stricken with the disease, which is thought to be a disturbance of the body’s immune system.

‘I woke up one day and was having vision issues [and] could hardly see,’ the actor, famed for spots on That ’70s Show and Dude, Where’s My Car?, told Agus, who bills himself as one of the world’s leading doctors and biomedical researchers.

‘It knocked out my hearing, which through off my equilibrium, my balance, and I couldn’t walk,’ Kutcher went on to reveal. ‘I had vasculitis – that you’re very well aware of.’

The actor, who has a boy and girl aged six and eight with Kunis, proceeded to reveal frightening symptoms even considered rare within condition, such as temporary loss of sight – all in addition to the aforementioned hearing loss.

‘There’s a standard you become accustomed to in your life, like, being able to see clearly,’ Kutcher recalled, describing how his life was temporarily uprooted by the sickness. ‘And then suddenly, you can’t see.’

The disease, which affects less than 200,000 Americans each year, would eventually dissipate, but not after leaving the former model mostly bed-ridden for ‘like a year.’

Kutcher added he had a ‘super-rare form’ of the disease, which in most cases passes after a few weeks or months once the first symptoms are felt.

Later in the episode – which has yet to be released – Kutcher sat down with his rarely seen twin brother Michael, who has cerebral palsy. The emotional sitdown saw both brothers shed tears, and serves as the pair’s first-ever joint interview

Worsening matters is that the illness often goes undetected due to the nondescript nature of its initial symptoms – which include fatigue, fevers, and weight loss – which often apply to so many ailments that doctors don’t immediately suspect the disease.

He told Gryllis, 48, last month of his previously unknown struggles: ‘You want to reclaim the health that you once had.’

Later in the episode – which has yet to be released – Kutcher sat down with his rarely seen brother, for the pair’s first-ever joint interview.

Michael, also 44, was born with cerebral palsy and underwent a lifesaving heart transplant at age 13.

In a brief clip, the actor can be seen describing the moment his brother’s heart flatlined in the hospital with tears in his eyes, putting his hand on Michael’s knee,

His twin responds with his own gesture of comfort, grabbing Kutcher’s hand as he wiped his tears.

‘So then my dad comes, picks me up, and it’s like, we’re going to go see your brother and I’m like … everything is not okay,’ Kutcher recalled, visibly emotional. ‘And he flatlines in the room.

The former Punk’d host – who is wed to Mila Kunis – said the condition suddenly surfaced three years afo, and he’d been secretly battling it behind for the better part of a year. The pair are pictured at this year’s Academy Awards in March

Opening up: The actor originally revealed that he is ‘lucky to be alive’ on an episode of Running Wild with Bear Grylls: The Challenge, where he disclosed his struggle with the autoimmune disorder that left him unable to hear, see or walk for a period of time

‘And I know that noise because now I’ve been visiting occasionally and watching the thing go and then it flatlines out.

‘And they’re grabbing me and they take me out and I’m like, what the hell is going [on]?’

The sit-down comes nearly 20 years after Kutcher disclosed his brother’s cerebral palsy diagnoses for the first time in 2003, which reportedly at the time angered Michael.

The brothers have since been seen together on the red carpet and other occasional events attended by Kutcher, who lives with his wife and kids in Beverly Hills.

The brothers have since been seen together on the red carpet and other occasional events attended by Kutcher, who lives with his wife and kids in Beverly Hills

The condition that could have cost Ashton Kutcher his sight: What is vasculitis and how is it treated?

Vasculitis, also sometimes referred to as angiitis or arteritis, are conditions that cause a person’s blood vessels to become inflamed
Nearly 230,000 Americans suffer from some form of vasculitis
There are a few potential causes, including an auto-immune condition, allergic reactions or an infection of some kind
Types of vasculitis are split into three categories, large, medium and small. The distinction is based on the size of vessels that have become inflamed
Typical symptoms include fever, fatigue, muscle pain and severe weight loss
In most severe cases it can cause an aneurysm, or even the bursting of a blood vessel. Either case can prove to be deadly
It can also lead to tissue death if a vessel becomes so inflamed that it blocks to flow of blood to a part of the body
In some cases, vasculitis will resolve itself
Common treatments include steroid therapy that fights inflammation

Source: WebMD and The Vasculitis Foundation

Kutcher said he first started feeling the symptoms three years ago, and eventually became aware of the condition, which usually resolves itself but in serious cases can be treated with steroid therapy.

It took him about a year to recover, he has since said, asserting that he felt ‘lucky to be alive.’ It is not immediately clear if the actor sought treatment or waited out the disease on his own.

While almost never the case, in some instances, vasculitis – which occurs when the body’s immune system attacks veins, arteries, and small capillaries – can prove fatal, such as in the case of late Caddyshack director and Ghostbusters actor Harold Ramis, who died in 2016 after a four-year battle with the disease at age 69.

Fatalities occur when inflammation narrows sufferers blood vessels and restricts the flow of blood – or even cuts it off entirely – causing organ damage or creating aneurysms, according to the National Institutes of Health.

If that aneurysm bursts, it can cause internal bleeding – a serious occurrence that can lead to death.

Depending on the specific type and severity of the condition – and which organs are targeted by the body’s wayward white blood vessels and antibodies – symptoms of vasculitis vary in severity. Some cases last weeks, and others, years.

The types and severity of the illness are classified by the size the blood vessels being attacked. Based on Kutcher’s symptoms, it is likely he was suffering from Behçet’s disease or Kawasaki disease, both of which affects medium-sized blood vessels.

Both can be treated with over the counter medicines, but sometimes require doctors to prescribe steroids or additional antibodies.

Despite this, Kutcher did not let the sickness keep him down – and even ran in last month’s New York City Marathon.

He maintains that he is thankful to be alive, and has since found a new lease on life. The interview streams on Paramount+ Tuesday.

Despite this, Kutcher did not let the sickness keep him down – and even ran in last month’s New York City Marathon

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