In an earlier interview with Good Morning America, Green described the extent of the problem: “I couldn’t walk. I shuffled like I was 90. I couldn’t speak. I couldn’t read. I couldn’t write.”
The experience also made him withdraw from public life. “I wanted to lock myself up in the house and not be seen,” he said.
Despite the severity and duration of the symptoms, Green told Really Famous that the underlying neurological issue was “never completely diagnosed.”
What did doctors diagnose?
Green was eventually diagnosed with ulcerative colitis and vertigo, although neither diagnosis provided a complete explanation for everything he experienced.
Ulcerative colitis is an inflammatory bowel disease affecting the large intestine and rectum. Its exact cause remains unknown, but it is thought to involve the immune system mistakenly attacking healthy tissue.
Vertigo, meanwhile, is a symptom rather than a disease in itself. It creates the sensation that a person or their surroundings are spinning. Green has previously said the more serious neurological problems began after he developed vertigo.
On the podcast, he said doctors believed inflammation and emotional strain may have contributed.
“I had internal inflammation, so from diet, and then, they think, just emotional stress, not handling things well,” Green explained.
During a 2023 appearance on Sex, Likes and Spray Tans, he also attributed the symptoms to dietary factors. That account followed years of consultations without a definitive diagnosis, which is not exactly the tidy medical answer anyone would prefer after losing several basic functions.
When did the symptoms begin?
Green said he was 39 or 40 when the illness started. He married Megan Fox in 2010 after meeting her on the set of Hope & Faith, meaning the episode occurred a few years into their marriage.
The timing also places the onset before a 2014 incident in which the couple’s car was struck by a drunk driver. Green has not presented that collision as the cause of his neurological illness. Instead, he has consistently pointed to inflammation, diet and stress as possible factors discussed during his treatment.
Green and Fox later separated, reconciled and separated again before their divorce was finalised in 2021. They share three sons.
How did Green recover?
Recovery took about four and a half years, according to Green. He gradually relearned how to walk and talk, along with reading and writing.
Although he regained those abilities, he has stressed that his case never produced one clear diagnosis explaining the full range of symptoms. Based on that experience, he has encouraged people facing difficult or unexplained health problems to consult more than one specialist and seek opinions from different sources.
His comments describe a personal medical experience, not a general diagnosis or treatment plan. Anyone experiencing sudden difficulty speaking, walking, reading or writing should seek urgent professional medical help.
