Anthony Anderson said he thought he broke his toe filming a scene where he kicked in a door, but it was a flare-up of gout
The actor told Dax Shepard on his Armchair Expert podcast that he’d been eating a lot of shellfish in New Orleans, and the food can cause a buildup of uric acid
Anderson shared that it was so painful, you could “feel the heat” coming off his toe
Anthony Anderson shares that he developed gout in his big toe after eating local cuisine in Louisiana.
“I was living in New Orleans for a while, shooting a show there,” the actor told Dax Shepard on the April 28 episode of his podcast Armchair Expert. Likely referring to his 2007 crime drama K-Ville, which was set in the Crescent City, Anderson, 54, said, “I was eating nothing but seafood and shellfish.”
“All the purine in the shellfish contributed to my buildup of uric acid and — I’ll never forget — I was in the scene, and I went to kick a door in,” he explained. “And I hit it. And I said, ‘I think I broke my toe.’ ”
Getty
Stock image of shellfish, which is high in purine.
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When purines break down, they “form a substance called uric acid,” Verywell Health explains. “High levels of uric acid can cause gout.”
Gout, the outlet explains, is when uric acid crystals form in a joint, most commonly the big toe. People with diabetes — Anderson has type 2 diabetes — are more likely to develop the painful condition. But as Verywell Health points out, “eating large amounts of high-purine foods increases the risk of recurrent gout attacks by nearly five-fold.” Scallops, crab, and other shellfish should be consumed “moderately” due to purine levels, the outlet says.
Anderson told Shepard that although he was in pain, “I finished the scene, then we moved locations. We were filming in a hotel in the middle of the night and I was laying across the bed and they said, ‘Action,’ and I jumped up to run and chase the perp, and I put pressure on my right foot and I collapsed. And I was like, ‘Oh yeah, broke my toe.’ I went to the doctor the next day limping.”
Sean Gardner/Getty
Anthony Anderson at the premiere of ‘K-Ville’ in 2007.
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He explained to the doctor that, ” ‘I kicked the door and I think I broke my toe.’ They’re looking at it like, ‘I don’t think you broke your toe.’ I said, ‘Yeah, no, I think I broke my toe.’ They’re like, ‘You might have the gout.’ I was like, ‘No, ain’t got the gout. ‘ “
The black-ish alum shared he was sent to a doctor who gave him an X-ray to “humor me,” and told him, ” ‘We got good news and bad news. Which one do you want first?’ “
“I was like, ‘The good news.’ ‘All right, you didn’t break your toe.’ ‘What’s the bad news?’ ‘You got the gout.’ “
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“You motherf—–,” Anderson quipped. “If you look at it, it looks red hot. if you put your hand above it, you can feel the heat coming off of it.”
Treatment includes anti-inflammatory medicines, over-the-counter painkillers — and avoiding high-purine foods.
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