Anthony Anderson health struggles explored as Black-ish star reveals Gout diagnosis

Actor and comedian Anthony Anderson recently shared an unexpected health scare that he faced while filming in New Orleans during the mid-2000s.

The Black-ish star shared the story on an episode of the Armchair Expert podcast, explaining how a heavy seafood diet landed him in the emergency room with a gout diagnosis that took him by surprise. While filming the 2007 TV drama K-Ville, Anderson recalled bingeing on huge portions of shellfish while he was in the city.

"I was eating nothing but seafood and shellfish," he said in the podcast.

He stated that purines, a substance that occurs naturally in some types of food, including shellfish, caused uric acid to accumulate in his body. This brought on an episode of acute gout with resulting inflammation and severe pain in his toe.

At first, Anderson thought he had fractured his toe when he banged it during an action scene. The agony supposedly intensified in another take, when he fell to the ground after attempting to run. The medical consultation revealed that it wasn’t a fracture but a flare-up of gout,

"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," he remembered.

According to the Mayo Clinic, Gout is a type of arthritis caused by the crystallization of uric acid in joints. It causes common symptoms like pain and stiffness, swelling, heat, and severe tenderness, especially in the big toe.

This isn’t the first Anthony Anderson has publicly addressed his health. In 2002 he was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes, which supposedly led to a radical change of life habits.

A look into Anthony Anderson’s long struggle with diabetes

For years, Anthony Anderson had suffered from fatigue, excessive thirst and frequent urination, which he initially blamed on work stress and long hours. Finally after receiving a proper diagnosis from a doctor he got to know that he was struggling from type 2 diabetes.

Since that time, Anderson has actively worked to control his diabetes with diet, exercise and medication. He also lost his father to complications from the same disease.

"I saw how it had affected him in the later stages of his life, after he had been diagnosed, and I didn’t want that for my family," He said.

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According to San Antonio Express-News, Anthony Anderson has since lost more than 45 pounds and has become much healthier with his new dietary habits and regular physical activity and sticking to a schedule.

He has also emerged as a leading voice in an initiative to build awareness for diabetes. He has teamed up with pharmaceutical company Novo Nordisk on the “Get Real About Diabetes” campaign.

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