“Blue Bloods” star Jennifer Esposito, 53, says the effects of her overlooked celiac disease had doctors considering electro-shock treatment and at one point landed her in a psych ward after they failed to recognize that a gluten intolerance was the cause of her mental health symptoms.
Esposito started her run on the CBS police drama in 2010, starring as Detective Jackie Curatola into the third season before departing due to celiac flareups. She returned as a guest star in seasons 13 and 14.
She started her career as a ’90s television actress, notably playing the secretary Stacey Paterno on “Spin City.” In 2010, she starred in the Hallmark film “The Wish List.”
The Brooklyn native appeared on the August 11 episode of Maria Menunos’ podcast “Heal Squad” to bravely open up about the health struggles she went through before finally getting an answer and transforming her health by going gluten-free.
Jennifer Esposito Speaks Out About Missed Celiac Diagnosis & How Going Gluten-Free Changed Her Life
On the podcast, Esposito told Menunos that she is now thriving thanks to repairing her brain-gut health with a gluten-free diet, but prior to getting her celiac diagnosis, she struggled for many years during her earlier career. At one point, the actress says she was not even able to leave the house. “I was agoraphobic for a year. I didn’t leave my parents’ home. I had to move back in with them. I was really ill.”
She says she moved out at 18, and soon began isolating herself due to panic attacks. “I had a whole life beginning in the city, I was a young actor, and I had to stop everything,” she recalled.
Her feelings of being “deeply depressed” led to psychologist visits and being placed on an array of medications, she says. She added, “They wanted to give me shock treatment at one point, because I wasn’t responding. I’m very sensitive to medication. It was a really bad time.”
Her mother even resorted to having people pray over her in a desperate bid to help.
Then, in a breakthrough moment, she recalls that “something in a dream” told her to check her vitamins. She described her previously careless diet, saying, “I came from eating a bagel at breakfast with a gallon of orange juice and leftover pasta for lunch,” explaining that knowledge of vitamin levels was not part of her background.
She says it was during her stint on “Samantha Who?” during the late 2000s that “things really started to collapse” after years of ups and downs culminated in “hair falling out” and “nails breaking off.” During a harrowing moment, she says a tooth fell out of her mouth “literally in the middle of a scene.”
Jennifer Esposito Says Discovering Her Celiac Disease Finally Put Her on the Path to Improvement
Esposito says after continuing to look for answers, she finally received a celiac disease diagnosis, but things did not immediately improve.
She says her case was so severe that it had put her into liver failure, with one doctor telling her, “I’m not sure how you’re alive.”
Although she immediately cut out gluten, the recovery process was grueling. At point, she says she described her extreme physical discomfort brought on by a sunlight sensitivity by using the words, “Doctor, you got to keep me here because I’m jumping out of my skin. I’m going to jump out the window.” This remark was documented as a threat of self-harm and landed her in a psych lock-up, she says.
She recalled, “I will say it was seven of the most excruciating hours of my entire life because I was yet again pleading for my sanity.”
She says moving out of the country and adopting a slower pace of life has boosted her physical recovery. “This is my life. I get to enjoy time.”
