Jamie Dornan was reportedly hospitalized after suffering "heart attack symptoms" after he touched a toxic caterpillar, his friend has claimed.
The 50 Shades of Grey actor, 41, had been on a recent trip to Portugal with his friend Gordon Smart, who also ended up finding himself in the hospital with the same symptoms.
Smart revealed that the pair of them had ended up in the hospital with what they believed to be the after-effects of a heavy night drinking while at a golfing resort.
However, they later discovered that they'd both been in contact with processionary caterpillars, which are known to be toxic.
Smart revealed on the BBC's The Good, The Bad, And The Unexpected podcast that just one day into the trip, he'd begun to feel a "tingling in his left hand and tickling in his left arm" which made him decide to seek medical intervention in case it was "the sign of the start of a heart attack."
He added: "Now, I’m a fairly healthy guy but once you start thinking, you’re having a heart attack, you’re pretty sure that you’re convincing yourself that you are having one."
Thankfully, after undergoing some tests, Smart was deemed to be in good health and was discharged, but spotted Dornan laying in another hospital bed as he was leaving.
He explained: "Jamie said, 'Dear me. Gordon, about 20 minutes after you left, my left arm went numb, my left leg went numb, my right leg went numb, and I found myself in the back of an ambulance.'
"Anyway, as he left the hospital, the paramedics asked them for a selfie, which is really what you want when you’re being wheeled out of a hospital room," he quipped.
The doctor called Smart a week later and revealed that he and the Irish actor had likely been suffering the symptoms due to exposure to the toxic caterpillars.
Pine and oak processionary moth caterpillars are known to be toxic, thanks to the tiny hairs covering their bodies which contain a protein that is an irritant to the skin, eyes, and throat, according to Forest Research, and can even lead to allergic reactions for some.
Smart added: "And it turns out that there are caterpillars on golf courses in the south of Portugal that have been killing people’s dogs and giving men in their 40s heart attacks.
"It turns out we’d brushed up against hairy processionary caterpillars and have been very lucky to come out of that one alive."
He joked: "So there’s my story; the good news is it wasn’t a caffeine overdose, it wasn’t a hangover - it was a poisonous, toxic caterpillar."
Dornan's reps are yet to comment on the story publicly, but we're glad to hear both he and Smart weren't experiencing actual heart attack symptoms on their trip.