Beverly Hills, 90210 star Gabrielle Carteris opened up about an injury sustained on set that altered her life.
During the Monday, February 23, episode of the “Still Here Hollywood” podcast, Carteris, 65, recalled getting hurt while filming a movie in the early 2000s. She explained how a scene called for her character to be lifted and dragged down the stairs by a guest player.
According to Carteris, the unidentified costar “was very hyped up” and “kept lifting” her multiple times despite her asking that he stop touching her because of how he was grabbing her by her neck.
“Then a day or two later, I started losing the feeling in my face,” Carteris said, recalling the moment she realized her face was not moving. The actress also remembered suffering from headaches and “a lot of pain” before her face completely changed.
“I looked like the Joker. It was so disfiguring, and it was a form of palsy,” Carteris noted before recalling a moment her “body started to convulse,” which led a doctor on set to come check on her.
Carteris ultimately flew home but felt embarrassed while at the airport because of how “people were staring” at her, adding, “I was so really deformed and I couldn’t talk.”
After seeking treatment at UCLA’s Movement Disorder Clinic, Carteris was able to get her speech back. She also filed a lawsuit “that took almost nine years” to win, saying, “It helped to change some laws in Canada.”
Elsewhere in the podcast, Carteris referred to the experience as “life-changing” and “very humbling” because it inspired her role as SAG-AFTRA president.
“I think what it did really informed my belief in labor and unions,” Carteris shared about holding the position from 2016 to 2021.
Carteris, who appeared on the first five seasons of Beverly Hills, 90210, is no stranger to being candid about her experiences on set. Earlier this month, Carteris appeared on former costar Jennie Garth‘s “I Choose Me” podcast, where she broke down her decision to never wear a bathing suit for the duration of her run on Beverly Hills, 90210.
“I refused to wear a bathing suit. I don’t know if you ever saw, I never wore a bathing suit,” she noted. “I wore shorts, or I had my leotard and my shorts.”
Carteris continued: “I wore my overalls and my tank top, but I refused to wear [a swimsuit], because it infuriated me. I mean, I had a cute little body at the time, I think, but it enraged me that that was the conversation.”
At the time, Carteris “didn’t want to objectify” herself, saying, “So, I never did. … [The producers] never challenged me on it at 90210. I’m sure it made it so certain things they chose for me not to do in the show, because I just wouldn’t do that. I don’t want to be seen that way.”
