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Ashton Kutcher has said he is “lucky to be alive” after his experience with a rare disease that affected his ability to see, hear and walk.
Ashton Kutcher revealed on a new episode of National Geographic’s “Running Wild with Bear Grylls: The Challenge” that he was diagnosed with a rare form of vasculitis nearly two years ago. The disease left the actor unable to hear or see for an extended period of time. Kutcher said it took almost a full year to recover from the disease.
Video from the interview, first reported by “Access Hollywood,” shows Kutcher discussing how the illness has affected him. (“Access Hollywood” is produced by NBC Universal, the parent company of NBC News.)
In the episode, Grylls asks Kutcher where his strength comes from. Kutcher says: “Two years ago, I had this weird, super rare form of vasculitis that, like, knocked out my vision. It knocked out my hearing. It knocked out, like, all my equilibrium.”
“I don’t know if I’m ever going to be able to see again; I don’t know if I’m ever going to be able to hear again; I don’t know if I’m ever going to be able to walk again.” Kutcher recalls.
Kutcher told Grylls that it took him about a year to regain those abilities.
“The minute you start seeing your obstacles as things that are made for you to give you what you need, then life starts to get fun,” Kutcher added about his personal growth following the diagnosis. “You start surfing on top of your problems instead of living underneath them.”
Kutcher recently popped up in a supporting role in B.J. Novak’s feature directorial effort “Vengeance.” He’ll soon reprise his breakout role of Michael Kelso in “That ’90s Show,” Netflix’s upcoming sequel series to “That ’70s Show.”
“It was really nostalgic to be back on the set,” Kutcher told Variety at the red carpet premiere of “Vengeance” last month. “It’s all the same folks that made ‘That ’70s Show,’ so it was pretty bizarre.”