Jeremy Piven Is Embarrassed By His Mercury Illness

Roberta @ Gone Hollywood | Monday, January 12, 2009

Jeremy Piven pulled out of “Speed The Plow” on Broadway citing a mystery illness from mercury poisoning and eating too much fish. He said that doctors diagnosed him with high levels of mercury in his system, and says that his reasoning for jumping ship is legitimate.

Piven admits that he faced “embarrassing” public skepticism about the sudden decision to leave the Broadway show, but he says none of that is as bad as the health condition from which he was suffering.

He says, “The reality is, I was brought to my knees by this illness. It feels like the heaviest bout of mono you’ve ever had in your life. It was completely overwhelming to the point where you get vertigo and it’s not healthy.”

He also revealed that three of his doctors told him to rest, but that he needed further convincing to give up Broadway. Despite all of that, he still says that doing the show was a positive experience for him.

He says, “This was the dream of my career, to do Broadway. The last thing I wanted to do was leave the show. I’m so proud of the work that was done there.”

Piven also plans to recover from this illness before returning to the studio to work on “Entourage“, which he starts filming on March 15th.

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