Anna Faris appears to be doing better than ever these days, but recently, she opened up about a frightening health scare that nearly cost her everything. During an appearance on Josh Horowitz’s “Happy Sad Confused” podcast last week, the actress revealed that back in 2019, she and over a dozen of her family members celebrated Thanksgiving together at a rental home in Lake Tahoe. All was going according to plan when suddenly, things took a drastic and unexpected turn for the worse.
“There was a lawsuit, so I can’t get too specific,” she began. “But what I can say is that carbon monoxide is odorless, and it is deadly.”
Faris recalled that at some point during the trip, she and other family members started to feel strange. They experienced headaches and drowsiness, which they initially brushed off, chalking their symptoms up to “altitude sickness and being hungover.” Eventually, however, they realized that they were dealing with something far more sinister. According to Faris, her father went to a nearby hospital for a checkup at her mother’s suggestion, as he has underlying health issues. It was there that the staff tested his blood and learned that he’d been suffering from carbon monoxide poisoning.
Anna Faris on “Happy Sad Confused” Podcast
“At the Lake Tahoe emergency room,” she explained, “they had the wisdom to check his carbon monoxide levels in his blood.”
“Next thing you know, my husband and I were passed out,” she continued. “And we were being shook awake by firefighters. I have this hazy memory of being told how lucky I was by a firefighter. It was awful.”
Fortunately, everyone in the rental home made it out alive, but Faris admits that the incident still haunts her today. She even travels with a portable carbon monoxide detector to prevent something like this from ever happening again. The “House Bunny” star added that there aren’t “a lot of [studies] on the long-term effects of carbon monoxide poisoning.”
Anna Faris’ Carbon Monoxide Poisoning Scare
GettyFaris first went public about the terrifying ordeal on Twitter/X shortly after it happened in 2019. “I’m not quite sure how to express gratitude to the north Lake Tahoe fire department,” she wrote at the time alongside a photo of a festive dining table. “We were saved from carbon monoxide- it’s a stupidly dramatic story but I’m feeling very fortunate.”
In a press release after the incident, the North Lake Tahoe Fire Protection District made it clear that the situation could have had a tragic ending, stressing the importance of always checking smoke and CO detectors when traveling.
“We are so thankful to report that this holiday disaster was averted,” Mike Schwartz, North Tahoe Fire Chief, said. “Situational awareness is so important. Whether you are at home or traveling, it is important ensure that smoke and CO alarms are in working order anywhere you stay.”
