Actor Paul Bettany popped 10 blood vessels in his eye while filming a scene for the new Marvel television series VisionQuest in England.
The 55-year-old actor suffered the injury without doing any stunts, explaining that the blowout occurred because he was wildly overacting during an intense take.
Speaking on the October 29 episode of Jimmy Kimmel Live!, Bettany said he was acting out a scene involving a headpiece. "I was pretending to have a device on my head that is doing something to my brain," Bettany recalled, "and I was just wildly overacting."
Bettany explained that because he was so dialed in, the strain blew out the blood vessels in his left eye. "I mean, it was a lesson in less is more," Bettany joked. Host Jimmy Kimmel displayed an on-set photograph showing Bettany's bloodied eye, telling him, "I'm impressed when actors can cry on command, you're actually able to pop your eye on command."
The injury took about two weeks to heal completely while production continued on the Disney+ show. "I think it must have cost production so much to take it out," Bettany said regarding the visual effects needed to remove the redness, with Kimmel adding that editors "had to do their magic and fix it."
Bettany, who reprises his role as the synthezoid Vision, noted the comedy of his real-world eyesight. "I mean, the irony is the actor playing Vision is kind of myopic," Bettany said. "I can't see a thing when I take my glasses off," adding with a laugh, "Which is great depending on the actor."
Filming Schedule and Production Demands
Filming for VisionQuest took place in England, where Bettany starred alongside James Spader, Ruaridh Mollica, Emily Hampshire and other cast members. Bettany shares children Stellan, 23, and Agnes, 15, as well as stepson Kai, 29, with his wife, actress Jennifer Connelly.
In an October interview with E! News, Bettany described the demanding schedule on set. "I'm not complaining about the amount of work," Bettany said, "but there are so many pages to get through in a day that you find yourself spending a lot of time working on scenes at night, and I found it really difficult to wind down at the end of the day."
Bettany first joined the Marvel Cinematic Universe nearly 20 years ago, voicing J.A.R.V.I.S. in the 2008 film Iron Man. "It was an amazing experience," Bettany said of returning to the character, adding, "You're getting really well paid for it, and that's great."
Bettany's set incident is one of several medical emergencies disclosed by entertainment and sports personalities who have faced unexpected health struggles.
Head Trauma and Emergency Surgery Disclosures
Debby Ryan, the former star of the Disney Channel series Jessie, spoke about suffering severe migraines after sustaining five concussions. "The brain injuries make things significantly worse," Ryan said on a September 2026 episode of Mythical Kitchen's Last Meals. "I had a pretty crazy, life-altering brain injury a few years ago, and I was out of commission for six months."
Ryan explained that while her first four head injuries were accidents, her fifth concussion resulted from "sustained shaking over a minute of time." She now closes her eyes to think. "Quite often the world is really loud. It's really too bright. There's a lot going on," Ryan said. "The visual data that I'm taking in can be so distracting and so loud. Then, with the migraines, which are significantly worsened by that, it sort of is too much."
Podcaster Brianna "Chickenfry" LaPaglia of BFFs required emergency surgery in May 2026 after an ovarian cyst twisted her organs and caused internal bleeding. "There was a half a liter of blood in my pelvic floor," LaPaglia stated in a TikTok video following the procedure. "I have five incisions all over my stomach. They went in through my belly button with a camera so they could find all the blood."
Professional wrestler Nikki Garcia of Total Bellas revealed that an elbow slam from Piper Niven shifted one of her breast implants during a July 2025 match. Garcia recounted telling her sister Bella Garcia, "It's OK. We're going to get it fixed one day. I told the doctor, I go, 'Newly divorced, so the minute the boots are hung up, I'm going to come back to you and we're going to make these girls look real good, because these girls are going to get some action in the future and that can't look like that.'"
Spinal Fractures and Chronic Illness
Former Bachelorette star Gabby Windey disclosed in an October 2026 Substack essay titled "Broke back, no mountain" that she cracked a vertebra while using a vibration plate at "level 30, supersonic speed." Windey wrote, "Seemingly, subtly, somewhere on the way to 30, maybe 10 or 20, my vertebrae turn crooked and rub against each other."
Windey added that the plate created "too fast vibrations I guess, and too many vibrations maybe, and too much pressure to shake. And it broke. Broke right off, like your ex-boyfriend's bumper. Well, technically, it cracked." The fracture caused persistent paresthesia, a tingling sensation that Windey called "the greatest sense of condemnation; of persecution, I'll ever feel," adding, "And I do wish it on my worst enemy If only they hadn't wished it on me first."
Oscar-winning 12 Years a Slave actress Lupita Nyong'o disclosed in 2025 that she had uterine fibroids, which were first diagnosed in 2014 when she won her Academy Award. Nyong'o wrote on Instagram that she had been "suffering in silence" for a decade, adding, "When we reach puberty, we're taught periods mean pain, and that pain is simply part of being a woman. We're struggling alone with something that affects us most."
Brian Austin Green of Beverly Hills, 90210 shared in an April 2025 Instagram video that he underwent emergency surgery for a perforated appendix. "Last week, I started feeling some pain in my stomach," Green said. "I ended up going to the emergency room, and I had a perforated appendix. Not quite burst, but just before." Green noted the recovery was his first major surgical operation.
Actress Suki Waterhouse of Daisy Jones & The Six revealed on social platform X in July 2025 that she had been hospitalized for a hernia caused by tight clothing. "'Suki you never tweet anymore,'" Waterhouse wrote. "Have you ever considered I wore pants so tight 6 months ago it caused a hernia & I've been too scared to tell you?"
Athletic Collapses and Childhood Trauma
Racing Louisville midfielder Savannah DeMelo collapsed on the pitch during a September 2025 match against Seattle Reign at Lumen Field in Seattle. The United States Women's National Team player sat down beside a teammate before losing consciousness, per Reuters, and the National Women's Soccer League confirmed on X that DeMelo was transported to a local hospital where she remained stable and alert.
Actor Adam Devine explained on the In Depth With Graham Bensinger podcast in 2025 that injuries from being struck by a cement truck at age 11 continue to cause physical distress. "It's been a nightmare," Devine said. "I have spasms all over. For a while, [the doctors] told me I was dying, literally, within this last year," adding that his body feels "a little wonky and a little wrong with it."
Jason Tartick of Bachelor Nation recalled on his Trading Secrets podcast in March 2025 that he entered a hospital "crawling on all fours" after hurting his back on an RV trip. "Right now, knees to my toes, it's, like, still tingly, which is crazy," Tartick said, noting that weeks earlier he was squatting 295 pounds before steroid treatment and specialist care put him on the mend.
Real Housewives of Orange County personality Gina Kirschenheiter shared that her former husband Matt Kirschenheiter survived a heart attack in March 2025. That same month, 30 Rock star Tracy Morgan was wheeled out of Madison Square Garden during a New York Knicks game before confirming on social media that the emergency was caused by food poisoning.
Gunfire Injuries and Endocrine Conditions
Christy Carlson Romano of Even Stevens and Kim Possible was shot in the face in February 2025 while celebrating the birthday of her husband, Brendan Rooney, at a clay pigeon shooting range. Romano wrote on Instagram that another party fired unsafely, leaving five wounds and lodging a fragment behind her right eye that doctors chose not to remove surgically.
Romano said Rooney rushed her to the hospital, noting, "I love my daughters, husband, family, and friends so much. I saw my life flash before my eyes and I'm telling you, hug the people around you every chance you can. Life can change in an instant."
Comedian Amy Schumer learned on the internet that she had Cushing syndrome after users commented on her swollen facial appearance during a press tour. Speaking on the Call Her Daddy podcast in January 2025, Schumer explained that doctors in the comments diagnosed symptoms linked to steroid injections she received for scar tissue following a C-section and breast reduction.
Schumer previously shared in a February 2024 News Not Noise newsletter that her condition would resolve on its own, calling the prognosis "the greatest news imaginable." In professional sports, American Hockey League player Casey Fitzgerald received 25 stitches in December 2024 when a skate blade cut his neck, prompting his father, New Jersey Devils general manager Tom Fitzgerald, to tell ESPN, "We're very lucky. I don't wish that on any parent."
Strokes and Viral Nerve Paralysis
Hailey Bieber suffered a transient ischemic attack in March 2022 while having breakfast with her husband, pop singer Justin Bieber. Bieber recalled on YouTube in April 2022 that she could not speak and experienced facial drooping before doctors at UCLA identified a patent foramen ovale, a cardiac opening that allowed a blood clot to reach her brain, which was surgically repaired.
Three months later in June 2022, Justin Bieber canceled dates on his Justice World Tour after contracting Ramsay Hunt syndrome, a viral condition causing temporary facial paralysis. Justin Bieber demonstrated on Instagram that one side of his face could not move or blink, though Hailey Bieber later told Good Morning America that his mobility had returned.
Actor Jamie Foxx revealed in his 2024 Netflix special What Had Happened Was... that an April 2023 medical incident in Atlanta was caused by a brain bleed that led to a stroke. Foxx recalled asking for an aspirin for a severe headache before losing consciousness for 20 days, after which his sister Deidra Dixon took him to the hospital, leading to physical rehabilitation in Chicago.
Tracey Yukich of NBC's The Biggest Loser revealed on Fit for TV: The Reality of The Biggest Loser that she collapsed from rhabdomyolysis during a one-mile running challenge. Yukich said her organs began shutting down on the course, recalling that she heard a helicopter and saw visions of her late grandfather before emergency personnel revived her.
Brain Aneurysms and Organ Complications
Emilia Clarke of Game of Thrones suffered two brain aneurysms during the production of the fantasy series, which she detailed in a 2019 essay for The New Yorker titled "A Battle for My Life." Clarke suffered a subarachnoid hemorrhage following a gym session that caused temporary aphasia, followed by a second skull surgery in 2013 after a brain scan revealed a ruptured arterial growth.
Cori Broadus, daughter of rapper Snoop Dogg and star of Snoop's Fatherhood: Cori and Wayne's Story, suffered a severe stroke in January 2024 at age 24. Broadus told E! News correspondent Will Marfuggi in December 2024 that kidney failure linked to lupus extended her hospital stay, though physical therapy helped restore her motor skills.
Actress Shailene Woodley of Big Little Lies discussed a decade-long health battle on the SHE MD Podcast in September 2024, recounting that she experienced hearing loss, severe stomach pain, and body dysmorphia in her early twenties. Woodley pursued treatments through medical doctors and herbalism, confirming that her symptoms eventually resolved completely.
