Emily in Paris star Ashley Park, who plays Mindy Chen on the hit Netflix series, revealed Friday she suffered a grave health scare after experiencing “critical septic shock” during a vacation around New Year’s Day.
Park, 32, posted a series of photos on Instagram that showed her receiving care in the hospital. She said the condition started as tonsillitis, which quickly spiraled into a potentially life-threatening ordeal that landed her in an intensive care unit for weeks.
“As I sit here processing and recovering from the first few weeks of 2024, the only word I can think of is grateful,” wrote Park. “I am grateful that my health has improved despite what we had initially been told.”
Park said the condition impacted “several” of her organs, but she didn’t elaborate on what sort of specific damage was done, or if the complications are considered to be a long-term issue.
The Cleveland Clinic describes septic shock as the “last and most severe stage of sepsis,” occuring when your immune system has an extreme reaction to an infection. The condition can be fatal if not treated.
“The inflammation throughout your body can cause dangerously low blood pressure,” the clinic says on its website. “You need immediate treatment if you have septic shock.”
Among the symptoms of the condition are low blood pressure, inability to urinate, heart palpitations, cool and pale limbs, as well as hyperventilation, hypothermia, and shortness of breath.
A source close to Park told People magazine that the actress, a California native, is “slowly on the mend.”
“She was very sick,” the source reportedly said.
In photos shared on Instagram, Park can be seen in a hospital bed, hooked up to an IV. In one photo she has her eyes closed, with her Emily in Paris co-star Paul Forman leaning in to kiss her forehead. In another, Forman appears to be combing Park’s hair.
Park singled out Forman as being there for her throughout the scary ordeal.
“You calmed my fears and held me through ambulances, three foreign hospitals, a week in the ICU, scary ERs, countless scans and tests and injections, excruciating pain, and so much confusion all while we were alone on the other side of the world far from those we know,” she wrote.
“I love you, Paul,” she added. “More than I can ever say.”
Park wrote that she’s still recovering but is “safely on the other side of the worst.” She thanked her doctors and Joali Being, a “wellbeing resort” in the Maldives, for “responding immediately and staying with me to provide language translations and vital support.”
“I love you all,” she wrote. “I’m healing and I promise I’m gonna be okay.”