Frankie Muniz Says 'Dancing With The Stars' Overstated His Memory Loss
Frankie Muniz wants to set the record straight.
The “Malcolm in the Middle” star cleared up misconceptions about his reported memory loss on a recent episode of the Barstool Sports podcast “Pardon My Take,” which aired Monday.
Muniz said his appearance on “Dancing With the Stars” some years ago affected people’s perception of the extent of his memory problems.
“I did ‘Dancing With the Stars’ in 2017, and they have an episode where it’s the ‘Most Memorable Year’ episode,” the former child star explained. “And they told me that my most memorable year was 2001. And I go, ‘I don’t know what to say,’ and they’re like, ‘Why?’”
“They’re interviewing me, and the way it got cut together and the way they put it was that I have zero memory of anything,” Muniz explained of the show’s edits, as opposed to him just not remembering certain specifics about that year. HuffPost reached out to reps for “Dancing With the Stars” for comment.
“Press took it, and now if you search my name, it basically says I don’t remember [anything]— like [the movie] ’50 First Dates,’” Muniz said, laughing.
He later added that sometimes people approach him on the street and say things like, “Do you know who you are? Your name is Frankie Muniz. You’re an actor. You’re now trying to be a race car driver.’”
Part of the reason Muniz said he has trouble remembering the episodes is because he did so many of them, and it can occasionally be difficult to distinguish between the things he did as a kid and the things he was simply acting out as a character.
The 36-year-old did elaborate on some of his health issues he brought up during his time on “DWTS” and said he’s had nine concussions in his lifetime.
He also said he was wrongly diagnosed with a major health issue some years back and only recently figured out what was really wrong.
“I was having these episodes where, like, I’d lose my vision, I couldn’t recognize faces, couldn’t talk, all this kind of stuff. And it was happening pretty regularly. I was told that I was having many strokes, or TIAs [transient ischemic attack], which is a pretty big deal,” Muniz said.
“Finally had a doctor really kind of look into it, and it ends up I was just having aura migraines.”
Though the actor said the migraines ― which he hasn’t experienced in years ― are “awful,” it’s a significant downgrade from being diagnosed with mini-strokes.
These days, the “Big Fat Liar” star, who stepped back from acting many years ago, is focusing all of his attention on racing.
“I like to say now that I am acting on the side,” Muniz said during the NASCAR All-Star Open race this year, according to Insider. “I want racing to be my focus. It’s one of those things you have to do 100%. You can’t just do it halfway.”
CORRECTION: A previous version of this article mistakenly stated Frankie Muniz starred in “Liar Liar.” He actually starred in “Big Fat Liar.”
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