Hours after it was reported that Jamie Dornan was hospitalized with heart attack symptoms after touching a toxic caterpillar, it appears that the news wasn’t 100% factual.
During his recent appearance on BBC’s The Good, the Bad, and the Unexpected podcast, Gordon Smart spoke about the recent health scare he and Dornan experienced at a Portugal golf resort. Although he originally thought their alleged health issues were due to excessive drinking from the night before, Smart said he was told the symptoms were potentially a result of an encounter with processionary caterpillars. These insects are supposedly known for their toxicity.
Although Smart claimed that both he and Jamie Dornan were hospitalized. He said that he started having a tingling in his left hand. He then felt tingling in his left arm. Eventually, he went to the hospital to make sure it wasn’t a heart attack.
When he returned to the hotel, Smart said he saw Dornan hooked up to medical equipment. He also claimed the actor was experiencing the same symptoms before being transported to the hospital.
“Jame said, ‘Dear me. Gordon, about 20 minutes after you left, my left arm went numb, my leg went numb, my right leg went numb, and I found myself in the back of an ambulance,” Smart recalled. “Anyway, as he left the hospital, the paramedics asked him for a selfie, which is really what you want when you’re being wheeled out of a hospital room.”
However, it was revealed after Smart’s podcast interview that Dornan was never hospitalized. The actor even played a round of golf following the incident and won. A source told PEOPLE that Smart’s story wasn’t accurate. “He never went into the hospital,” the source pointed out.
Pine Processionary Moth Caterpillar Appear to Be ‘Harmless’ to People and Animals
PEOPLE further reports that while Jamie Dornan allegedly made contact with a pine processionary moth caterpillar, they appear to be “harmless” to both people and animals.
However, the animal has thousands of tiny hairs which feature an irritating protein called “thaumetopoei.” This protein can lead to rashes, and pain in the skin, eyes, and throat. In rare cases, there can be allergic reactions. It turns out we’d brushed up against hairy processionary caterpillars,” Smart said. “And have been very lucky to come out of that one alive.”
Smart claimed that the caterpillars were killing people’s dogs and giving men in their 40s heart attacks. “the good news is it wasn’t a caffeine overdose,” Smart said about the incident. “It wasn’t a hangover. It was a poisonous, toxic caterpillar.”