Gal Gadot reveals new details of emergency brain surgery for blood clots last year
Israeli actress, who was 8 months pregnant, says she got MRI at mother’s insistence after weeks of ‘crazy headaches’ dismissed by doctors: ‘You’ve got to advocate for your health’
Israeli actress Gal Gadot revealed new details on Monday about the “huge scare” that required her to undergo emergency surgery to remove blood clots from her brain while eight months pregnant last year with her daughter Ori.
“All of a sudden, I realized what it means to be scared to death,” she told late-night host Jimmy Fallon.
Gadot, who appeared on Fallon’s show to promote her new film “Snow White,” said she had suffered “crazy headaches” for three weeks.
Doctors she consulted with dismissed her concerns as hormones or migraines, but her mother insisted she get an MRI, Gadot said.
“We did, they found out this horrible thing and we were rushed to the hospital,” she said. “And they got the baby out immediately. I went through a thrombectomy.”
“I had a brain clot and it was a huge one. Like three, I had three,” she said, joking that “when I do something, I do it all the way.”
Gadot gave a shout-out to the team that treated her at Los Angeles’s Cedar Sinai Hospital.
“Thank you so much for saving my life,” she said, blowing kisses.
Gadot, who first disclosed the health scare in December, said she was speaking out so that others with the same symptoms would get checked as soon as possible.
“You’ve got to advocate for your health,” she said. “It’s better to over-check than not to check… just love yourself and check yourself and be on top of your health.”
Gadot’s daughter Ori, now 1, is the actress’s fourth child — all girls — with her husband Jaron Versano, an Israeli businessman. Speaking to Fallon, Gadot confirmed Ori is happy and healthy.
“She’s a little caterpillar,” said Gadot, mimicking the child eating voraciously.
In her new film, Gadot plays the Evil Witch who gives Snow White a poisoned apple.
Gadot, known for her portrayal of Wonder Woman, said it was refreshing to play an evil character. She added that her two elder daughters were excited to learn their mother would play in a move based on the classic fairy tale.
However, Gadot said, Mia, 8, was distraught to learn her mother would play the Evil Witch. Alma, 13, was thrilled: “Ooh, Imma!” Gadot quoted her, using the Hebrew word for “mother.”
Gadot has publicly embraced her Jewish and Israeli identity. Speaking last week at a conference of the Anti-Defamation League, she said she tended to avoid political issues before the Hamas onslaught of October 7, 2023. Following the attack, Gadot told the conference, she felt the need to speak out about antisemitism. She urged Jews from all walks of life to “confront the hatred against us, even if it’s extremely uncomfortable.”
