{"id":257350,"date":"2026-08-13T20:33:16","date_gmt":"2026-08-13T20:33:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/2026\/08\/13\/jennifer-esposito-recalls-excruciating-psych-ward-stay-amid-health-problems-pleading-for-my-sanity\/"},"modified":"2026-08-13T20:33:16","modified_gmt":"2026-08-13T20:33:16","slug":"jennifer-esposito-recalls-excruciating-psych-ward-stay-amid-health-problems-pleading-for-my-sanity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/2026\/08\/13\/jennifer-esposito-recalls-excruciating-psych-ward-stay-amid-health-problems-pleading-for-my-sanity\/","title":{"rendered":"Jennifer Esposito Recalls \u2018Excruciating\u2019 Psych Ward Stay Amid Health Problems: \u2018Pleading for My Sanity\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"


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Jennifer Esposito<\/strong><\/a> is opening up about her traumatic health journey \u2014 including her stay in a psych ward \u2014 after being considered \u201ccrazy\u201d amid her quest for a diagnosis in her mid-20s.<\/p>\n

\u201cI will say it was seven of the most excruciating hours of my entire life, because I was yet again pleading for my sanity,\u201d Esposito, 53, recalled of her brief psych ward stay during the Wednesday, August 12, episode of the \u201cHeal Squad x Maria Menounos<\/a>\u201d podcast.<\/p>\n

Esposito, who experienced health issues since childhood, explained that she was hospitalized about a month or two after finally being diagnosed with celiac disease. (Celiac disease is an autoimmune disease that triggers an abnormal reaction from your immune system when you eat gluten, according to Cleveland Clinic<\/a>.)<\/p>\n

While the Blue Bloods<\/em><\/a> alum said she was happy to finally have answers about her health, she wasn\u2019t instantly better.<\/p>\n

Esposito explained that she cut out gluten<\/a> following her diagnosis and also realized she was vitamin D deficient \u2014 but the troubles got worse before they got better.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I stopped the gluten and I went through this detox, I couldn\u2019t even tell you,\u201d she shared. \u201cThey had me on four Klonopin a day, and I was still a trembling mess.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Mistresses<\/em> actress<\/a> recalled, \u201cI was literally sleeping in my kitchen, because it was the only place that didn\u2019t have a window, because the stimulus from the light would make me tremble and shake, like, I couldn\u2019t talk. It was horrendous.\u201d<\/p>\n

At that time, Esposito was seeing a specialist in New York who was studying her severe case of celiac.<\/p>\n

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\n Jennifer Esposito on \u2018Blue Bloods.\u2019<\/span> Craig Blankenhorn\/CBS\/Everett Collection<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Esposito recalled telling the specialist on one particular day, \u201cYou got to keep me here because I\u2019m jumping out of my skin. I\u2019m going to jump out the window.\u201d<\/p>\n

She expressed worries about her physical and mental state while trying to navigate celiac and the other issues that had popped up as a result of the illness. Esposito said she told the doctor she wanted him to perform tests to combat her being \u201cvitamin deprived,\u201d and he made her think he was going to do just that.<\/p>\n

When the doctor sent her to another area of the hospital, Esposito said she didn\u2019t think much of it and went downstairs to check in as \u201cBetty Franklin,\u201d an alias made up of her dogs\u2019 names to keep her anonymous.<\/p>\n

\u201cWithin a half an hour, I was wheeled upstairs to the psych ward,\u201d Esposito said, claiming her physical symptoms were once again being overlooked and she was being classified as mentally unstable.<\/p>\n

The former NCIS<\/em> star<\/a> explained to host Maria Menounos<\/strong><\/a> that her father was there when she checked in, and he luckily didn\u2019t leave her alone.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf my father wasn\u2019t there and I didn\u2019t literally look at him with the look of death \u2026 I was like, \u2018If you leave me here, I\u2019m dying, because I\u2019m going to fight these people,\u2019\u201d Esposito said.<\/p>\n

She noted, \u201cYou can\u2019t put someone who is having a severe panic disorder in a locked space. And you\u2019re still telling me this is my mind.\u201d<\/p>\n

Esposito realized, \u201cIt was because I said I was going to jump out the window and they thought I was going to harm myself.\u201d<\/p>\n

Once she was admitted to the psych ward, Esposito was faced with a \u201cpompous man\u201d who allegedly called her \u201creally hostile.\u201d<\/p>\n

She remembered telling herself to \u201ccalm down\u201d because she wasn\u2019t being heard by the physicians, who suggested she \u201cjust stay\u201d and eat a lunch filled with gluten, which she couldn\u2019t have with her illness.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe had no concept of celiac disease,\u201d Esposito said. \u201cI remember thinking, \u2018Keep it together.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

At one point, Esposito said the doctor asked her father in front of her, \u201cIf she gets out of hand, can we restrain her?\u201d<\/p>\n

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\n Jennifer Esposito.<\/span> JC Olivera\/Getty Images<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

After seeing some of the other patients, Esposito knew that she had to get out of there.<\/p>\n

\u201cI connected with this man and he was gone. He was looking at me like he wanted to say something,\u201d she recalled. \u201cAnd I thought, \u2018That will be me if you leave me here.\u2019 They are so quick to put a label of \u2018crazy.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Esposito did leave under her father\u2019s supervision that same day. She went home to her apartment and vowed to start fighting for herself and others who were being overlooked by the healthcare system.<\/p>\n

Esposito later wrote a book about her health ups and downs and how she has managed living with celiac disease \u2014 which she wasn\u2019t diagnosed with until she was acting on Samantha Who?<\/em> alongside Christina Applegate<\/strong><\/a> from 2007 to 2009.<\/p>\n

\u201cI cannot tell you how ill I was, from the time I was a child. \u2026 It went in waves,\u201d she said on the podcast. \u201cThe physical symptoms, stomach issues, hair falling out, nails falling off. But then the panic disorder. I was agoraphobic for a year. I didn\u2019t leave my parents\u2019 home.\u201d<\/p>\n

Esposito said her parents brought her to a psychologist. She was put on \u201cevery medication\u201d and was even advised to do shock treatment because she \u201cwasn\u2019t responding\u201d to treatment.<\/p>\n

She was in her 20s when she had a dream to \u201ccheck your vitamins,\u201d which is when things started to click \u2014 but only after she got really sick on set.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was actually on Samantha Who?<\/em> when really things started to collapse<\/a>,\u201d Esposito explained. \u201cI had hair falling out, nails falling off. Like, breaking midway.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\n Jennifer Esposito and Christina Applegate on \u2018Samantha Who?\u2019<\/span> Mitch Haddad\/Touchstone Television\/Everett Collection<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

She remembered having a tooth fall out of her mouth \u201cliterally in the middle of a scene\u201d and being \u201cmortified.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI had been so ill that I just went hysterical. Like, somebody has to help me,\u201d Esposito continued. \u201cNot to mention the amount of medication they had me on. Because I had recurring sinus infections. They had me on steroid after steroid after steroid.\u201d<\/p>\n

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