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- Sara Donnellan | NJ.com
“Blue Bloods” alum Jennifer Esposito is looking back on her harrowing experience at a psychiatric ward
Esposito, 53, spent years trying to determine the cause of her many health problems. In 2011, she was finally diagnosed with celiac disease, an autoimmune condition where the immune system reacts to gluten, causing damage to the small intestine
“When I stopped the gluten and I went through this detox, I couldn’t even tell you. They had me on four Klonopin a day, and I was still a trembling mess,” Esposito recalled during a Tuesday, Aug. 11, appearance on Maria Menounos’ “Heal Squad” podcast. “I was literally sleeping in my kitchen, because it was the only place that didn’t have a window, because the stimulus from the light would make me tremble and shake. Like, I couldn’t talk. It was horrendous.”
At one point Esposito told a doctor, “‘You got to keep me here because I’m jumping out of my skin. I’m going to jump out the window.’”
Because she had expressed thoughts of self-harm, Esposito was then “wheeled upstairs to the psych ward.”
“It was seven of the most excruciating hours of my entire life, because I was yet again pleading for my sanity,” she said. “You can’t put someone who’s having a panic disorder in a locked space.”
Prior to receiving her celiac diagnosis, Esposito lost hair and fingernails as she unknowingly battled the autoimmune disease. She even lost a tooth while filming the sitcom “Samantha Who?,” which aired on ABC from 2007 to 2009
“A tooth fell out of my mouth, literally in the middle of a scene,” the actress said
Despite all she endured, Esposito is now grateful to celiac disease for forcing her to pay attention to her health
“Celiac disease saved my life, 100 percent. Because the amount of stress and fight or flight that my body has been in since the time of birth, I am sure I would’ve had something far worse if I didn’t get a handle on this a long time ago,” she said
In 2014, Esposito published a book about her health journey titled “Jennifer’s Way: My Journey with Celiac Disease — What Doctors Don’t Tell You and How You Can Learn to Live Again.”
Esposito told Menounos of her book’s impact: “The amount of people that I was able to help, it really does mean a lot to me.”
In addition to her role as Jackie in “Blue Bloods,” Esposito is known for TV shows including “Spin City” and “NCIS” and films including “Crash and ”Summer of Sam.” She has been married to Jesper Vesterstrøm since 2020. Esposito was previously married to actor Bradley Cooper from 2006 to 2007 and to British model Louis Dowler from 2014 to 2016
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