Former child actor Frankie Muniz revealed on an episode of Dancing with the Stars on Monday night that he suffers from severe memory loss.
The 31-year-old actor shared he suffered nine concussions and several “mini-strokes” and the effects have been so bad that he can't even remember being on his hit sitcom “Malcolm in the Middle.”
“It makes me a little sad. Things pop back into my mind I should have remembered,” said Muniz, who is also a race car driver and has endured several crashes.
Muniz's “Malcolm in the Middle” co-star Bryan Cranston told “DWTS” cameras, “I will tell him, ‘Remember this? Remember that from ‘Malcolm'?”
The sitcom ran from 2000 to 2006 and Muniz elaborated to reporters backstage with dance partner Witney Carson by his side that his memory loss “is long-term.”
“It's something I never really talked about…It's just my life but we were talking about ‘Malcolm' and how it started and I don't really have memories of being on the show. My memory of being on the show is seeing the episode[s],” he said.
Muniz said his memory loss is “a weird thing” that has happened “over the last ten years”.
“My mom was with me while I was doing ‘Malcolm' and stuff, she'll bring up things or trips we went on or big events that you would think I'd remember –and it's a new story to me,” he said.
Muniz said he does not know what caused his memory loss. “I don't know what the cause of it is. It's not something I've looked into. It's just how my brain is, so I thought that was normal. I didn't know I should remember going to the Emmys.”
Muniz reflected, “My whole life from when I was eight until now has been literally non-stop….maybe it's because I had to remember so much, even lines…I didn't really take them in.”
Surprisingly, Muniz told Fox News he hasn't consulted any doctors about his memory problem: “I'm not a doctor person. Every time I go to the doctors, they tell me I'm just crazy,” he laughed.
Muniz's girlfriend helps him with his memory by keeping a journal.
Muniz said, “I get sad of the thought of losing the memory because I know that I do, so she writes literally in detail, she's a writer, a journal so I can look at any day and it does bring me back. She's very supportive.”
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