Ashton Kutcher ‘lucky to be alive’ after autoimmune disorder left him unable to walk, see, or hear

Ashton Kutcher has revealed that he had a rare autoimmune disorder, where he lost the ability to walk, see, and hear.

The 44-year-old actor recalled his terrifying health scare in a sneak peak of an upcoming episode of the National Geographic’s Running Wild with Bear Grylls: The Challenge, obtained byAccess Hollywood. During the episode, Kutcher detailed how he was diagnosed with a “rare form of vasculitis” and how the condition “knocked” him out.

“Like 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,” the That ‘70s Show star said. “It took me a year to build it all back up.”

According to the Mayo Clinic, “vasculitis involves inflammation of the blood vessels” and restricts one’s blood flow, which “can result in organ and tissue damage”.

Kutcher went on to tell host Bear Grylls that he became more appreciative of everyday life after his health experience.

“You don’t really appreciate it until it’s gone,” he said. “Until you go, ‘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.’

After Grylls praised Kutcher for his “strength through adversity,” the actor acknowledged how he was “lucky to be alive”.

The No Strings Attached star also shared how his autoimmune disorder gave him a change in perspective, as he expressed how life got “fun” for him when he stopped hiding from his “problems”.

“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, right?” he said. “You start surfing on top of your problems instead of living underneath them.”

Grylls agreed with the sentiment and applauded Kutcher, as he said: “What do they say in survival? Storms make you stronger. And I think he’s living proof of that.”

While this is Kutcher’s first time publicly speaking out about his vasculitis, his wife, Mila Kunis, has previously opened up about his different health conditions. In October 2021, Kunis — who shares a seven-year-old daughter, Wyatt, and five-year-old son, Dimitri, with Kutcher — revealed that her spouse was hospitalised while filming for the 2013 movie Jobs.

“He was so dumb. He only ate grapes at one point, it was so stupid,” she said at the time, during an episode of Hot Ones. “We ended up in the hospital twice with pancreatitis!”