Barry Keoghan reveals he battled flesh-eating disease: 'I'm not gonna die, right?'
Barry Keoghan is opening up about a terrifying health scare.
In a GQ profile published Tuesday, the Oscar-nominated actor revealed he suffered from a case of flesh-eating disease necrotizing fasciitis a few years ago, before he went to work on 2022's "The Banshees of Inisherin."
After asking his doctors, "But I’m not gonna die, right?," Keoghan, 31, recalled them responding, "Well, we don't know."
He also revealed that he faced the possibility of needing to have his arm amputated.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, necrotizing fasciitis is a rare infection that can lead to sepsis, shock and organ failure. As many as one in five cases are fatal, and it can "result in life-long complications from loss of limbs or severe scarring due to surgically removing infected tissue," per the CDC.
"Banshees of Inisherin" director Martin McDonagh told GQ he came to see Keoghan shortly before the movie was set to begin filming. "We were only about four days out from shooting, and his arm was puffed up," McDonagh told the outlet. "But he was like, 'Yeah, no, I'm going to be fine — I'll see you on Tuesday.'"
McDonagh wondered whether Keoghan was "going to die? Let alone, is he going to make the movie. But I came out of there energized and looking forward to it." The director urged Keoghan to remember this when he was eventually nominated for an Oscar, the actor recounted.
'The Batman':See the 'very cool' deleted scene showing Barry Keoghan's Joker vs. Robert Pattinson
As McDonagh predicted, Keoghan was nominated at the 2023 Oscars for his role as Dominic in "Banshees" opposite Colin Farrell. This was his first Academy Awards nod, although he's in contention again this year for "Saltburn," in which he plays a young man who develops an unhealthy obsession with a fellow student at Oxford, played by Jacob Elordi. The Irish actor has also appeared in films like "Eternals," "The Batman," and "The Killing of a Sacred Deer."
Keoghan isn't the only actor who has opened up about battling the rare, flesh-eating disease. In 2022, "The Chronicles of Narnia" star Georgie Henley revealed that she contracted necrotising fasciitis, which she described as a "rare and punishing infection that nearly claimed my life and wrought havoc throughout my body," when she was 18. On Instagram, Henley shared that she underwent grueling "invasive surgery" to prevent the amputation of her arm and subsequently received extensive reconstructive surgery that "resulted in a series of skin grafts and scars."
''Saltburn'Emerald Fennell, Jacob Elordi go deep on the year's 'filthiest, sexiest' movie
"My scars are not something to be ashamed of," Henley wrote at the time. "They are a map of the pain my body has endured, and most importantly a reminder of my survival. They do not affect my capacity as an actor, and I’m proud to be a person who has visible scars in this industry."