Jennifer Esposito in a black strapless dress with pearl drop earrings at a red carpet event in Los Angeles.
Bobby Bank / WireImage via Getty Images

Jennifer Esposito’s Gluten Detox Had Her on Four Klonopin a Day and Sleeping in Her Kitchen. She Told Her Doctor She Wanted to Jump Out the Window and Was Wheeled to the Psych Ward in 30 Minutes

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Esposito was vitamin deprived and, by her own account, a trembling mess who slept on her kitchen floor because it was the only room with no window. Even the light was enough to set off the shaking.

Jennifer Esposito at the Lee Strasberg Theatre & Film Institute in New York City
At the Lee Strasberg Theatre & Film Institute in New York City, Jennifer Esposito led an acting class in December 2009, returning to the school where she once studied. Photo by Astrid Stawiarz / Getty Images.

The former Blue Bloods actress described the ordeal on the Aug. 11 episode of the Heal Squad podcast, tracing it back to the gluten detox she started after her celiac diagnosis about 15 years ago. She says a doctor she called a “famous medical expert” was seeing her weekly and wanted to study her because she was so ill.

Jennifer Esposito on a Manhattan street on location for Blue Bloods in 2011
Jennifer Esposito films on the streets of Manhattan for “Blue Bloods” in July 2011. Photo by Bobby Bank / WireImage via Getty Images.

One week she was in bad enough shape that she pleaded, “Doctor, you’ve got to keep me here. I’m going to jump out of my skin. I’m gonna jump out the window.” She says the words were taken as a threat to herself, and within half an hour she was wheeled upstairs.

Jennifer Esposito at the Hollywood Critics Association's Astra Creative Arts, Film & TV Awards in Los Angeles
At the Taglyan Complex in Los Angeles, Jennifer Esposito attends the Hollywood Critics Association’s Astra Creative Arts, Film & TV Awards on December 8, 2024. Photo by JC Olivera / Getty Images.

She calls those 7 hours some of the worst of her life, saying you can’t lock someone with a panic disorder in a locked space. Her father, Robert Esposito, eventually checked her out and took her home.

Jennifer Esposito at the Hollywood Critics Association's Astra Creative Arts, Film & TV Awards at Taglyan Complex in Los Angeles
At the Taglyan Complex in Los Angeles, Jennifer Esposito attended the Hollywood Critics Association’s Astra Creative Arts, Film & TV Awards on December 8, 2024. Photo by JC Olivera / Getty Images.

The experience cost her whatever faith she had in her medical team. “They’re so quick to put a label of ‘crazy,'” she said, “and they’re so quick because they don’t understand anything beyond their pills.”

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About the author

Nadia Santiago

Nadia Santiago is a writer who lives between the clouds and the coastline, and writes about all the things your heart knows but your mouth can never quite say.