Brooke Shields Recalls Suffering From Grand Mal Seizure While Bradley Cooper Was There To Help Her

Nov 08, 2023

Brooke Shields is famous for being one of Hollywood’s most beautiful women. From the late 1970s, when she rose to popularity while still a teenager, to her sitcom-starring roles in television in the 1990s, Brooke has remained absolutely gorgeous every step of the way.

Brooke was born on May 31, 1965, in Manhattan, New York. She is the daughter of actress and model Teri Shields and businessman Francis Alexander Shields. Brooke first found her footing in the entertainment industry as a child model before landing the leading role in “Pretty Baby” in 1978. She found more success as an actress and went on to star in “Endless Love.” Brooke even made several appearances in TV shows such as “The Middle” and “Friends.”

Brooke’s career also faced controversy even at a young age when she starred in the film “The Blue Lagoon” which was based on a novel of the same name published in 1908 by Henry De Vere Stacpoole.

According to Decider, the movie revolves around the story of two children who were trapped on an island. As they grow up, they start to experiment with their desires.

Still acting, albeit less frequently, Brooke settled down and started a family with her husband, Chris Henchy, in 2001, and together, the couple has two daughters. 

Prior to this, Brooke had been married to tennis player Andre Agassi. Over the years, Brooke has shared many precious moments with her girls – Rowan Henchy and Grier Henchy – and the world has been lucky enough to watch them grow up right in front of our eyes.

Although Brooke was a successful actress, there was a time in her career when she suffered from a medical emergency that landed her in the hospital. Thankfully, another actor was beside her at the time.

In an interview with Glamour Magazine, where she was hailed as one of the women of the year and appeared on the cover, published in November 2023, Brooke Shields recalled one of the most terrifying moments of her life when she suffered from a grand mal seizure.

Before diving into what exactly happened to the actress, let’s discuss what a grand mal seizure is. According to Mayo Clinic, this medical condition, also called tonic-clonic seizure, is when a person loses consciousness and suffers from muscle contractions. 

It affects the electrical activity in the brain, which causes this abnormal change of behavior and movements of a person. 

In Brooke’s case, she recalled drinking “all this water,” and then she left her house. Upon arriving at L’Artusi before her show, people kept asking her if she was alright or if she needed anything.

Later on, the actress said she walked over to a corner without any reason at all and was starting to question why she was there or had come over at all.

“I go in, two women come up to me; I don’t know them. Everything starts to go black. Then my hands drop to my side and I go headfirst into the wall,” she recalled.

At the time, Brooke was having a grand mal seizure.

Regarding what happened to her, the actress explained that the seizure she had meant “frothing at the mouth, totally blue, trying to swallow my tongue.”

When she regained consciousness, she was already being loaded into an ambulance. Fortunately, one celebrity was there to help her get through the medical emergency — it was Bradley Cooper.

Brooke said Bradley was holding her hand at the time, and at first, she didn't even really understand what was going on. This confusion and short-term amnesia can happen with different kinds of seizures.

“This is what death must be like. You wake up and Bradley Cooper’s going, ‘I’m going to go to the hospital with you, Brooke,’ and he’s holding my hand,” she recalled.

The outlet explained how Bradley ended up helping Brooke. The sommelier at a restaurant first attempted to reach Brooke’s husband, Chris Henchy, but the staff reached an assistant, then another assistant who called Bradley, who was around the area.

At the hospital, Brooke said she told the doctor that she needed to recover immediately, but she instead underwent EEGs and had catheters and IVs, as they thought her brain was seizing.

It turns out the actress had low sodium levels in her blood and had drank too much water for these low levels, which flushed her system.

“if you don’t have enough sodium in your blood or urine or your body, you can have a seizure,” she explained. Usually, this is not a problem for a healthy person eating a healthy diet.

The doctors asked her if she was limiting her salt intake, to which she clarified that she was not because she felt that she looked “younger” when she was bloated and people would think that she had botox.

The reason why Brooke drank too much water was because she “felt dehydrated because I was singing more than I’ve ever sung in my life and doing a show and a podcast.” 

Regardless of what she experienced, Brooke said she lives a balanced lifestyle and even though she moderately indulges in food and alcohol, she does Pilates.

What would you do if you were in the same situation as Brooke Shields? How would you react if Bradley Cooper was beside you on the way to the hospital? Did you know not eating enough salt and drinking large amounts of water could be dangerous? Let us know your thoughts, and make sure to pass this on to your friends and family.