

































See Also
See Again
© Getty Images
0 / 34 Fotos
Larry King
- The late TV host survived a near-fatal stroke in March 2019, which changed his perception of death. "I have less of a fear of dying now. I'm 86 and it is what it is. I just want to keep working until the end. I'd like to die at work."
© Getty Images
1 / 34 Fotos
Larry King
- Following the stroke, he was in a coma for "a couple weeks" after undergoing a heart procedure to insert stents. "Everything got better except my left foot," he said in 2020. King died on January 23, 2021, with two underlying conditions that led to sepsis, including acute hypoxic respiratory failure (not enough oxygen in his blood) and end stage renal disease (kidney failure).
© Getty Images
2 / 34 Fotos
Sharon Stone
- In 2001, at the age of 43, the 'Basic Instinct' actress suffered a brain hemorrhage and stroke that nearly killed her. She had been standing in her San Francisco home when she felt a "lightning bolt" to the head that knocked her to the ground where she lay unconscious for an unknown amount of time. She later shakily rose to her feet with a throbbing headache and felt very confused, reports Brain and Life.
© Getty Images
3 / 34 Fotos
Sharon Stone
- Stone tried to drive herself to the hospital, but couldn't feel her foot and couldn't speak. She was helped by neighbors and her son's nanny back inside, and didn't think in her confused state to call 911. Only 72 hours later did she make it to the hospital. In the aftermath, she was forced to relearn how to walk, talk, and write, and she is reportedly still on medicine to control seizures. Later in her life, she reflected on how the stroke upended her career and her psyche.
© Getty Images
4 / 34 Fotos
Emilia Clarke
- The 'Game of Thrones' actress suffered two brain aneurysms, which cause a life-threatening type of stroke known as a subarachnoid hemorrhage, while working on the series in 2011 and 2013. While she said it was extremely painful, she told BBC's Sunday Morning, "It's remarkable that I am able to speak, sometimes articulately, and live my life completely normally with absolutely no repercussions. I am in the really, really, really small minority of people that can survive that."
© Getty Images
5 / 34 Fotos
Emilia Clarke
- She did, however, see in scans of her brain afterwards that "there's quite a bit missing." Clarke explained, "Strokes, basically, as soon as any part of your brain doesn't get blood for a second, it's gone. So the blood finds a different route to get around, but then whatever bit is missing is therefore gone."
© Getty Images
6 / 34 Fotos
Tim Curry
- In 2012, Tim Curry somewhat inexplicably disappeared from the spotlight, which he seemed very comfortable in, and only a year later did it come out that he had, at the age of 66, suffered a major stroke.
© Getty Images
7 / 34 Fotos
Tim Curry
- The British actor had to go through physical therapy but has used a wheelchair ever since. As a result, his work has largely shifted to voice acting and singing.
© Getty Images
8 / 34 Fotos
Jessie J
- Jessie J revealed that she had a stroke when she was 18. The singer was diagnosed with Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, which can cause an irregular heartbeat, at age 11, which caused the minor stroke seven years later.
© Getty Images
9 / 34 Fotos
Jessie J
- "I thought that I was never going to get better," she told the crowd at the Delete Bone Cancer Gala in New York in 2020. "I feel so lucky that I was given a second chance at life. So every day when I am able to do this, you have no idea how amazing it feels that I'm so lucky to be onstage and singing and living my dream."
© Getty Images
10 / 34 Fotos
Bill Paxton
- Actor Bill Paxton underwent surgery to repair his aortic valve on February 14, 2017, and he died of a stroke 11 days later, at the age of 61.
© Getty Images
11 / 34 Fotos
Bill Paxton
- His family later settled a wrongful death lawsuit against Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, which alleged that Paxton's surgeon used an unnecessary "high risk and unconventional surgical approach."
© Getty Images
12 / 34 Fotos
Kid Cudi
- In a 2022 interview with Esquire, the artist revealed that two weeks after entering rehab in 2016, when he was struggling with depression and suicidal thoughts, he had a stroke and was subsequently hospitalized.
© Getty Images
13 / 34 Fotos
Kid Cudi
- The rapper was just 32 at the time, and it was a traumatic event which slowed his speech and movements so badly that his manager urged him to step away from music while he underwent weeks of physical therapy. He had been candid about going on a two-week substance binge before checking himself into rehab, which had likely driven up his blood pressure.
© Getty Images
14 / 34 Fotos
Hailey Bieber
- At 25 years old, Hailey Bieber suffered what doctors call a mini-stroke, or a transient ischemic attack. In a YouTube video, she explained that during breakfast she suddenly felt a "weird sensation" from the top of her right shoulder through the tips of her fingers, one side of her face drooped for 30 seconds, and she lost the ability to speak for some time.
© Getty Images
15 / 34 Fotos
Hailey Bieber
- As for what caused her brief blockage of blood supply to the brain, doctors say it was the "perfect storm" of conditions that included taking a long flight without getting up to walk, recently having recovered from COVID-19, and taking birth control pills—all of which are known to produce blood clots.
© Getty Images
16 / 34 Fotos
Frankie Muniz
- The 'Malcolm in the Middle' star also suffers from mini-strokes. In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, he said he has suffered at least 15 transient ischemic attacks, the first of which happened in 2012 while he was riding his motorcycle at the age of 27.
© Getty Images
17 / 34 Fotos
Frankie Muniz
- "First, I lose my peripheral vision," he explained of the attacks. "And I can see people but I can't recognize them. I can see words but I can't tell what they say. Then I start going numb. It's a gross feeling. But I know now when it's going to come. I usually go lay down and wait [for it to be over]." Apparently neurologists have yet to figure out why it happens.
© Getty Images
18 / 34 Fotos
Bret Michaels
- In 2010 at the age of 47, rock star Bret Michaels suffered a stroke. The Poison front man's brain hemorrhage, which caused the stroke, stemmed from an injury he suffered during his 2009 performance at the Tony Awards, which was televised live.
© Getty Images
19 / 34 Fotos
Bret Michaels
- Michaels' near-death experience on stage at the Tony Awards after finishing the 1980s Poison hit 'Nothin' but a Good Time' occurred when he was hit in the face by a descending set piece because, he claimed in a lawsuit, producers had failed to tell him how to exit the stage safely. The brain hemorrhage occurred some months later.
© Getty Images
20 / 34 Fotos
Candice Bergen
- In 2006, the 'Murphy Brown' actress was hospitalized for several days and rumored to have had a stroke, but her publicist strongly denied it. Six years later, Bergen admitted that she had indeed suffered a minor stroke.
© Getty Images
21 / 34 Fotos
Candice Bergen
- Bergen told New York Magazine that she kept the stroke a secret because "I just don't want it to be a liability." At the time, she only took two weeks off her job on 'Boston Legal' to recover, but many years later she admitted, "My memory is just … It's not quite the same."
© Getty Images
22 / 34 Fotos
Cary Grant
- One of Hollywood's greatest stars, Cary Grant had retired from acting in films but was gearing up for a performance at the Adler in Davenport, Iowa, on November 29, 1986, when he began to show signs of illness during rehearsal. Still, he powered through a couple hours before returning to meet his wife at the Blackhawk Hotel. It was clear he was not well and a doctor was called.
© Getty Images
23 / 34 Fotos
Cary Grant
- The doctor saw his blood pressure reading of 210 over 130 and soon determined Grant was suffering a stroke. Grant refused to go to the hospital, however, and slipped into a coma. He was later transported to a hospital, where he died at the age of 82.
© Getty Images
24 / 34 Fotos
Loretta Lynn
- The late country music legend suffered a stroke in 2017, but that's not what got her in the end. "It's a very scary thing when you find out you're havin' a stroke," Lynn told People. "Your mind tells you, 'You can!' but your body soon tells you, 'No you can't quite do this.'" But, she said at the time, "I wasn't goin' to let it stop me."
© Getty Images
25 / 34 Fotos
Loretta Lynn
- She began physical therapy and had to move away from her ranch to a house closer to her doctor, but eventually she was feeling good enough to have her band over to practice. Her timing and hearing were a little off, and her memory was occasionally fuzzy, but she kept at it. She ultimately passed away peacefully in her sleep on October 4, 2022, at the age of 90.
© Getty Images
26 / 34 Fotos
Luke Perry
- A teen idol known for playing Dylan McKay on the Fox television series 'Beverly Hills, 90210', Luke Perry suffered a massive stroke at the age of 52 and died five days later from complications on March 4, 2019.
© Getty Images
27 / 34 Fotos
Luke Perry
- His death came as a huge shock to fans and served as a tragic reminder that stroke can affect anyone at any age.
© Getty Images
28 / 34 Fotos
John Singleton
- The famed director of 'Boyz N the Hood' was hailed for his ability to portray the lives of Black Americans on screen, and even in his death he brought awareness to an issue prevalent among African-American men: hypertension—the top risk factor for stroke. The CDC says Black men are twice as likely to have a stroke than their white peers and are nearly 60% more likely to die from a stroke.
© Getty Images
29 / 34 Fotos
John Singleton
- Singleton quietly suffered from hypertension, or high blood pressure, which is often called the "silent killer" because it has no obvious symptoms. That led to a massive stroke in 2019, which he died from two weeks later, at the age of just 51. In a statement, his family urged others to be aware of signs of high blood pressure.
© Getty Images
30 / 34 Fotos
Samantha Morton
- Nearly two years after the fact, the Oscar-nominated 'Sweet and Lowdown' actress revealed that she had been "close to death" due to a stroke that occurred after being hit by a piece of 17th-century plaster that fell on her head and damaged her vertebral artery in 2006.
© Getty Images
31 / 34 Fotos
Jamie Foxx - In his new Netflix comedy special 'Jamie Foxx: What Had Happened Was...,' Academy Award winner Jamie Foxx revealed that his April 2023 medical emergency on the Atlanta set of 'Back in Action' was a "brain bleed that led to a stroke." As he recalled the incident, Foxx became emotional and wiped away tears, revealing that he feared for his life.
© Getty Images
32 / 34 Fotos
Samantha Morton
- The 'In America' actress was in the hospital for three weeks after the stroke, and had to relearn to walk, which is why she took a break from acting for a year and a half.
© Getty Images
33 / 34 Fotos
© Getty Images
0 / 34 Fotos
Larry King
- The late TV host survived a near-fatal stroke in March 2019, which changed his perception of death. "I have less of a fear of dying now. I'm 86 and it is what it is. I just want to keep working until the end. I'd like to die at work."
© Getty Images
1 / 34 Fotos
Larry King
- Following the stroke, he was in a coma for "a couple weeks" after undergoing a heart procedure to insert stents. "Everything got better except my left foot," he said in 2020. King died on January 23, 2021, with two underlying conditions that led to sepsis, including acute hypoxic respiratory failure (not enough oxygen in his blood) and end stage renal disease (kidney failure).
© Getty Images
2 / 34 Fotos
Sharon Stone
- In 2001, at the age of 43, the 'Basic Instinct' actress suffered a brain hemorrhage and stroke that nearly killed her. She had been standing in her San Francisco home when she felt a "lightning bolt" to the head that knocked her to the ground where she lay unconscious for an unknown amount of time. She later shakily rose to her feet with a throbbing headache and felt very confused, reports Brain and Life.
© Getty Images
3 / 34 Fotos
Sharon Stone
- Stone tried to drive herself to the hospital, but couldn't feel her foot and couldn't speak. She was helped by neighbors and her son's nanny back inside, and didn't think in her confused state to call 911. Only 72 hours later did she make it to the hospital. In the aftermath, she was forced to relearn how to walk, talk, and write, and she is reportedly still on medicine to control seizures. Later in her life, she reflected on how the stroke upended her career and her psyche.
© Getty Images
4 / 34 Fotos
Emilia Clarke
- The 'Game of Thrones' actress suffered two brain aneurysms, which cause a life-threatening type of stroke known as a subarachnoid hemorrhage, while working on the series in 2011 and 2013. While she said it was extremely painful, she told BBC's Sunday Morning, "It's remarkable that I am able to speak, sometimes articulately, and live my life completely normally with absolutely no repercussions. I am in the really, really, really small minority of people that can survive that."
© Getty Images
5 / 34 Fotos
Emilia Clarke
- She did, however, see in scans of her brain afterwards that "there's quite a bit missing." Clarke explained, "Strokes, basically, as soon as any part of your brain doesn't get blood for a second, it's gone. So the blood finds a different route to get around, but then whatever bit is missing is therefore gone."
© Getty Images
6 / 34 Fotos
Tim Curry
- In 2012, Tim Curry somewhat inexplicably disappeared from the spotlight, which he seemed very comfortable in, and only a year later did it come out that he had, at the age of 66, suffered a major stroke.
© Getty Images
7 / 34 Fotos
Tim Curry
- The British actor had to go through physical therapy but has used a wheelchair ever since. As a result, his work has largely shifted to voice acting and singing.
© Getty Images
8 / 34 Fotos
Jessie J
- Jessie J revealed that she had a stroke when she was 18. The singer was diagnosed with Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, which can cause an irregular heartbeat, at age 11, which caused the minor stroke seven years later.
© Getty Images
9 / 34 Fotos
Jessie J
- "I thought that I was never going to get better," she told the crowd at the Delete Bone Cancer Gala in New York in 2020. "I feel so lucky that I was given a second chance at life. So every day when I am able to do this, you have no idea how amazing it feels that I'm so lucky to be onstage and singing and living my dream."
© Getty Images
10 / 34 Fotos
Bill Paxton
- Actor Bill Paxton underwent surgery to repair his aortic valve on February 14, 2017, and he died of a stroke 11 days later, at the age of 61.
© Getty Images
11 / 34 Fotos
Bill Paxton
- His family later settled a wrongful death lawsuit against Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, which alleged that Paxton's surgeon used an unnecessary "high risk and unconventional surgical approach."
© Getty Images
12 / 34 Fotos
Kid Cudi
- In a 2022 interview with Esquire, the artist revealed that two weeks after entering rehab in 2016, when he was struggling with depression and suicidal thoughts, he had a stroke and was subsequently hospitalized.
© Getty Images
13 / 34 Fotos
Kid Cudi
- The rapper was just 32 at the time, and it was a traumatic event which slowed his speech and movements so badly that his manager urged him to step away from music while he underwent weeks of physical therapy. He had been candid about going on a two-week substance binge before checking himself into rehab, which had likely driven up his blood pressure.
© Getty Images
14 / 34 Fotos
Hailey Bieber
- At 25 years old, Hailey Bieber suffered what doctors call a mini-stroke, or a transient ischemic attack. In a YouTube video, she explained that during breakfast she suddenly felt a "weird sensation" from the top of her right shoulder through the tips of her fingers, one side of her face drooped for 30 seconds, and she lost the ability to speak for some time.
© Getty Images
15 / 34 Fotos
Hailey Bieber
- As for what caused her brief blockage of blood supply to the brain, doctors say it was the "perfect storm" of conditions that included taking a long flight without getting up to walk, recently having recovered from COVID-19, and taking birth control pills—all of which are known to produce blood clots.
© Getty Images
16 / 34 Fotos
Frankie Muniz
- The 'Malcolm in the Middle' star also suffers from mini-strokes. In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, he said he has suffered at least 15 transient ischemic attacks, the first of which happened in 2012 while he was riding his motorcycle at the age of 27.
© Getty Images
17 / 34 Fotos
Frankie Muniz
- "First, I lose my peripheral vision," he explained of the attacks. "And I can see people but I can't recognize them. I can see words but I can't tell what they say. Then I start going numb. It's a gross feeling. But I know now when it's going to come. I usually go lay down and wait [for it to be over]." Apparently neurologists have yet to figure out why it happens.
© Getty Images
18 / 34 Fotos
Bret Michaels
- In 2010 at the age of 47, rock star Bret Michaels suffered a stroke. The Poison front man's brain hemorrhage, which caused the stroke, stemmed from an injury he suffered during his 2009 performance at the Tony Awards, which was televised live.
© Getty Images
19 / 34 Fotos
Bret Michaels
- Michaels' near-death experience on stage at the Tony Awards after finishing the 1980s Poison hit 'Nothin' but a Good Time' occurred when he was hit in the face by a descending set piece because, he claimed in a lawsuit, producers had failed to tell him how to exit the stage safely. The brain hemorrhage occurred some months later.
© Getty Images
20 / 34 Fotos
Candice Bergen
- In 2006, the 'Murphy Brown' actress was hospitalized for several days and rumored to have had a stroke, but her publicist strongly denied it. Six years later, Bergen admitted that she had indeed suffered a minor stroke.
© Getty Images
21 / 34 Fotos
Candice Bergen
- Bergen told New York Magazine that she kept the stroke a secret because "I just don't want it to be a liability." At the time, she only took two weeks off her job on 'Boston Legal' to recover, but many years later she admitted, "My memory is just … It's not quite the same."
© Getty Images
22 / 34 Fotos
Cary Grant
- One of Hollywood's greatest stars, Cary Grant had retired from acting in films but was gearing up for a performance at the Adler in Davenport, Iowa, on November 29, 1986, when he began to show signs of illness during rehearsal. Still, he powered through a couple hours before returning to meet his wife at the Blackhawk Hotel. It was clear he was not well and a doctor was called.
© Getty Images
23 / 34 Fotos
Cary Grant
- The doctor saw his blood pressure reading of 210 over 130 and soon determined Grant was suffering a stroke. Grant refused to go to the hospital, however, and slipped into a coma. He was later transported to a hospital, where he died at the age of 82.
© Getty Images
24 / 34 Fotos
Loretta Lynn
- The late country music legend suffered a stroke in 2017, but that's not what got her in the end. "It's a very scary thing when you find out you're havin' a stroke," Lynn told People. "Your mind tells you, 'You can!' but your body soon tells you, 'No you can't quite do this.'" But, she said at the time, "I wasn't goin' to let it stop me."
© Getty Images
25 / 34 Fotos
Loretta Lynn
- She began physical therapy and had to move away from her ranch to a house closer to her doctor, but eventually she was feeling good enough to have her band over to practice. Her timing and hearing were a little off, and her memory was occasionally fuzzy, but she kept at it. She ultimately passed away peacefully in her sleep on October 4, 2022, at the age of 90.
© Getty Images
26 / 34 Fotos
Luke Perry
- A teen idol known for playing Dylan McKay on the Fox television series 'Beverly Hills, 90210', Luke Perry suffered a massive stroke at the age of 52 and died five days later from complications on March 4, 2019.
© Getty Images
27 / 34 Fotos
Luke Perry
- His death came as a huge shock to fans and served as a tragic reminder that stroke can affect anyone at any age.
© Getty Images
28 / 34 Fotos
John Singleton
- The famed director of 'Boyz N the Hood' was hailed for his ability to portray the lives of Black Americans on screen, and even in his death he brought awareness to an issue prevalent among African-American men: hypertension—the top risk factor for stroke. The CDC says Black men are twice as likely to have a stroke than their white peers and are nearly 60% more likely to die from a stroke.
© Getty Images
29 / 34 Fotos
John Singleton
- Singleton quietly suffered from hypertension, or high blood pressure, which is often called the "silent killer" because it has no obvious symptoms. That led to a massive stroke in 2019, which he died from two weeks later, at the age of just 51. In a statement, his family urged others to be aware of signs of high blood pressure.
© Getty Images
30 / 34 Fotos
Samantha Morton
- Nearly two years after the fact, the Oscar-nominated 'Sweet and Lowdown' actress revealed that she had been "close to death" due to a stroke that occurred after being hit by a piece of 17th-century plaster that fell on her head and damaged her vertebral artery in 2006.
© Getty Images
31 / 34 Fotos
Jamie Foxx - In his new Netflix comedy special 'Jamie Foxx: What Had Happened Was...,' Academy Award winner Jamie Foxx revealed that his April 2023 medical emergency on the Atlanta set of 'Back in Action' was a "brain bleed that led to a stroke." As he recalled the incident, Foxx became emotional and wiped away tears, revealing that he feared for his life.
© Getty Images
32 / 34 Fotos
Samantha Morton
- The 'In America' actress was in the hospital for three weeks after the stroke, and had to relearn to walk, which is why she took a break from acting for a year and a half.
© Getty Images
33 / 34 Fotos
Celebrities who have suffered strokes
Many of them have lived to tell the tale, but not without lasting marks
© Getty Images
Strokes are the second leading cause of death and the third leading cause of disability in the world, according to the World Health Organization, but they still tend to take people by surprise. For their part, many celebrities have suffered strokes, be it an ischemic stroke where a vessel supplying blood to the brain is obstructed, or a hemorrhagic stroke where a weakened vessel ruptures and bleeds into the surrounding brain.
The brain cannot survive long at all without proper blood flow, and the effects can be long-lasting, devastating, and even fatal. Yet many stars have had strokes and lived to tell the tale.
Intrigued? Click through to find out more.
RECOMMENDED FOR YOU
























MOST READ
- Last Hour
- Last Day
- Last Week