Anthony Anderson is opening up about an unexpected and painful health scare that hit him during his time filming in New Orleans.
The Black-ish star revealed on the April 28 episode of the Armchair Expert podcast that he was diagnosed with gout—a form of inflammatory arthritis—after indulging heavily in shellfish while working on the 2007 series K-Ville.
“I was eating nothing but seafood and shellfish,” Anderson recalled, according to People. “All the purine in the shellfish contributed to my buildup of uric acid. I’ll never forget—I was in a scene, went to kick a door in, and said, ‘I think I broke my toe.’”
Gout occurs when high levels of uric acid build up in the bloodstream, forming sharp crystals in joints, leading to sudden and severe pain. According to the Mayo Clinic, shellfish is high in purines, a natural compound that breaks down into uric acid in the body.
For the 54-year-old actor, what began as a toe injury on set quickly escalated. The pain from the gout flare-up worsened, marking the beginning of a chronic condition he’s had to manage ever since.
