Brian Austin Green has revealed that a mysterious neurological crisis once left him unable to walk, speak, read or write-and doctors never completely determined what caused it.
The 53-year-old Beverly Hills, 90210 heartthrob revisited the frightening ordeal during the August 26 episode of psychotherapist Kara Mayer Robinson's Really Famous podcast. Green said the crisis began when he was approximately 39 or 40, placing it around 2012 or 2013, while he was married to Megan Fox.
"I had to learn how to walk again, to talk again," Green recalled. "I had to learn how to sort of do everything again."
The actor described experiencing "stroke-like symptoms," although he said he never suffered an actual stroke. His condition became so debilitating that he reportedly spent three months bedridden and eventually shuffled when walking "like a 90-year-old man."
Green also suffered slurred speech, severe brain fog and memory problems. At one particularly disturbing point, he reintroduced his best friend of more than 25 years to his sister-even though the two had known each other for decades. Reading simple Dr. Seuss books to his children also became nearly impossible.
"Who I was, essentially, was no more," he said. "My brain and my body completely disconnected."
The mystery deepened as Green underwent nearly 200 blood tests and two MRIs and consulted numerous specialists, including a leading neurologist at Cedars-Sinai. Yet the precise cause of his neurological symptoms remained elusive.
Doctors diagnosed Green with ulcerative colitis and vertigo, while he later said a practitioner specializing in kinesiology and Eastern medicine attributed his internal inflammation partly to gluten and dairy. Green said emotional stress and difficulty processing his feelings may also have contributed. However, no definitive neurological diagnosis was established.
His four-and-a-half-year recovery unfolded during a turbulent period in his marriage to Fox. She filed for divorce in 2015 before the couple reconciled, welcomed their third son and ultimately separated again in 2020. Their divorce was finalized the following year.
Green has credited speech, physical and occupational therapy with helping him rebuild his life. Therapy also taught him to process emotions instead of suppressing them-something he now believes was vital to reconnecting his mind and body.
The actor previously discussed portions of the ordeal in 2023, but his latest interview reveals more starkly how completely the illness stripped away his independence. He has since said he fully recovered from the stroke-like symptoms.
Green is now engaged to Dancing With the Stars professional Sharna Burgess, with whom he shares son Zane. He also has three sons with Fox and an adult son with former partner Vanessa Marcil.
His startling confession carries one reassuring message: the former teen idol who feared he might never function normally again ultimately learned to walk, speak and work again-even if the medical mystery behind his lost years was never entirely solved.
