‘50 Shades Of Grey’ Star Jamie Dornan Was Sent To The Emergency Room After Exposure To Poisonous Caterpillars On Vacation

Jamie Dornan, known for his infamous role as Christian Grey in 50 Shades of Grey, was hospitalized with “heart attack symptoms,” after a toxic run-in with poisonous caterpillars during a trip to Portugal.

Dornan’s friend, Gordon Smart, who was also on the trip, was hospitalized for the same symptoms.

At first, the friends thought their symptoms were classic signs of one too many the night before.

After their conditions grew worse, they rushed themselves to the hospital. Doctors told them that their symptoms were caused by processionary caterpillars. These types of caterpillars have long hairs surrounding their body that cling to human skin very easily and spread their toxic proteins.

Dornan’s specific symptoms included  “tingling in his left hand and tickling in his left arm” and made him believe it was “the sign of the start of a heart attack,” Smart told the podcast The Good, The Bad, The Unexpected of the incident that happened last summer. 

When Smart was released after he felt better, he returned to the hotel room to find Dornan hooked up to various machines after his trip to the emergency room. According to Dornan, a paramedic asked him for a selfie, which was “really what you want when you’re being wheeled out of a hospital room,” the actor remarked. 

The week after the hospitalization, the doctors called Smart and informed him that the symptoms of the two were correlated with exposure to the caterpillars. “It turns out we’d brushed up against hairy processionary caterpillars and have been very lucky to come out of that one alive”, he stated with gratitude.

In 2022, Dornan walked the Oscars red carpet with his wife, Amelia Warner, to support the cast of his film, Belfast.