Ashton Kutcher discusses his experience with vasculitis in an upcoming episode of National Geographic’s Running Wild With Bear Grylls. According to Ashton Kutcher, the autoimmune disorders led to the loss of his vision, hearing, and walking ability.
“Like two years ago, I had this weird, super rare form of vasculitis”. It knocked out my vision, my hearing. It knocked out, like, all my equilibrium,” said Kutcher in the exclusive clip obtained by Access Hollywood.
Vasculitis can affect various organs, which is an inflammatory disease of the blood vessels. It can occur in many types, most of which are rare.
As Grylls marveled at Kutcher’s strength in sneak peek footage from a new “Running Wild With Bear Grylls: The Challenge” episode, Kutcher said he was “lucky to be alive.”
Kutcher explained how he made the best of a bad situation by rephrasing the hardship as an opportunity for perseverance and improvement.
“The minute you start seeing your obstacles as things that are made for you, to give you what you need, then life starts to get fun, right?” “You start surfing on top of your problems instead of living underneath them.”
Almost a year passed before That’s 70s Show alum was able to recover his senses again. Until now, Kutcher hasn’t talked about the diagnosis.
“It took me like a year to build it all back up. You don’t really appreciate it until it’s gone,” Kutcher added. “Until you go, I don’t know if I’m ever going to be able to see again, hear again, or even walk again.”
Fortunately, the actor recovered enough to not only tackle the Costa Rican jungle with Grylls but also star in the upcoming Netflix sequel to That ’70s Show.
National Geographic will premiere the Running Wild episode on August 8 and Disney+ will stream it on August 10.
Upcoming Project: Vengeance
Recently, Kutcher and B.J. Novak discussed their new project, “Vengeance,” which marks Kutcher’s first major film role in nearly a decade. Novak portrays Ben Manalowitz, a pretentious New Yorker who travels to rural West Texas to investigate the overdose death of his former romantic interest.
A self-styled cowboy philosopher starring in the film, Kutcher’s Quentin Sellers, intrigues Ben with his insightful comments on social media, storytelling, and the divide between red and blue America – just before things take a turn for the worse.
Having run an early-stage startup fund for the last 15 years, Kutcher told The Times that he just lost the enjoyment of acting between that and running the nonprofit. As I read this script, I felt it really embodied what was happening in America right now with different perspectives on the coasts and in the middle of the country, and both sides vilifying one another. Beautiful, I thought.
