Jennifer Esposito spent ‘seven of the most excruciating hours of my entire life’ locked up in a hospital psychiatric ward while trying to manage her new celiac disease diagnosis.
The 53-year-old Blue Bloods alum recalled the frightening ordeal on Tuesday while speaking to Heal Squad x Maria Menounos about all the times she had been misdiagnosed with other conditions like IBS and MS.
Esposito made the mistake of threatening to ‘jump out the window’ out of frustration and a ‘pompous’ doctor promptly admitted her under the alias ‘Betty Franklin’ as she and her father Robert tried ‘pleading for my sanity.’
‘I remember thinking, “Jennifer calm down, calm down because this man is not hearing you,”‘ the Paris-based New Yorker recalled.
‘[They] put a label of crazy on so quick because they don’t understand, like, anything beyond their pills. And I thought, “If I ever get out of here I have to do something.” And that’s when I went. They let me out with my father’s, you know, uh, supervision.’
But things first ‘started to collapse’ when Esposito portrayed Christina Applegate’s self-centered friend Andrea Belladonna in Cecelia Ahern and Donald Todd’s sitcom Samantha Who? – which aired from 2007-2009 on ABC.
Jennifer Esposito spent ‘seven of the most excruciating hours of my entire life’ locked up in a hospital psychiatric ward while trying to manage her new celiac disease diagnosis (pictured in 2024)
The 53-year-old Blue Bloods alum recalled the frightening ordeal on Tuesday while speaking to Heal Squad x Maria Menounos about all the times she had been misdiagnosed with other conditions like IBS and MS
2007 also happens to be the same year the avid Substacker divorced her first ex-husband Bradley Cooper after 11 months of marriage.
‘I had hair falling out, nails falling off,’ Esposito said.
‘A tooth fell out of my mouth, like literally in the middle of a scene. I was mortified but also had been so ill that I just… I went hysterical. Like, somebody has to help me.’
The Law & Order: SVU guest star was driving her car in Los Angeles, California – pondering whether her panic disorders, depression and feeling sick all the time just meant she was ‘crazy’ – when a large piece of wood smashed through her windshield.
Esposito saw it as a sign and got her official diagnosis two days later, and the doctor informed her the autoimmune disease was so severe her liver was failing: ‘”I’m not sure how you’re alive.”‘
‘Celiac disease saved my life, 100 percent,’ the former gluten-free bakery owner declared. ‘I 100 percent would have been somewhere not good. So I’m very, very grateful.’
Celiac disease can only be treated with strict, lifelong gluten-free diet, and it only affects one in 100 people worldwide – according to celiac.org.
The Daily Mail has reached out to Esposito’s rep for comment but did not immediately hear back.
On September 13, the Rebel[lious] Podcaster and her third husband Jesper Vesterstrøm will celebrate their sixth wedding anniversary.
Esposito made the mistake of threatening to ‘jump out the window’ out of frustration and a ‘pompous’ doctor promptly admitted her under the alias ‘Betty Franklin’ as she and her father Robert tried ‘pleading for my sanity’ (pictured in 2008)
‘I remember thinking, “Jennifer calm down, calm down because this man is not hearing you,”‘ the Paris-based New Yorker recalled. ‘And I thought, “If I ever get out of here I have to do something.” And that’s when I went. They let me out with my father’s, you know, uh, supervision’
But things first ‘started to collapse’ when Esposito portrayed Christina Applegate’s self-centered friend Andrea Belladonna in Cecelia Ahern and Donald Todd’s sitcom Samantha Who? – which aired from 2007–2009 on ABC
2007 also happens to be the same year the avid Substacker divorced her first ex-husband Bradley Cooper (L, pictured in 2007) after 11 months of marriage
‘I had hair falling out, nails falling off,’ Esposito said. ‘A tooth fell out of my mouth, like literally in the middle of a scene. I was mortified but also had been so ill that I just… I went hysterical. Like, somebody has to help me’
The doctor informed the Law & Order: SVU guest star her the autoimmune disease was so severe her liver was failing: ‘Celiac disease saved my life, 100 percent’
On September 13, Esposito and her third husband Jesper Vesterstrøm (L, pictured in 2018) will celebrate their sixth wedding anniversary
![In February, the Rebel[lious] Podcaster bid farewell to the New York home she mortgaged in order to finance her feature directorial debut, Fresh Kills, back in 2022 (pictured)](https://i.dailymail.com/1s/2026/08/12/18/110595801-16047929-_pictured_in_2022_-a-31_1786556682002.jpg)
In February, the Rebel[lious] Podcaster bid farewell to the New York home she mortgaged in order to finance her feature directorial debut, Fresh Kills, back in 2022 (pictured)
Last Saturday, the Hollyshorts Film Festival screened Hannah Rose Ammon’s 13-minute mother-daughter short We Do Our Best starring Esposito as Liv
The F Plus star is still crowdfunding for her second directorial effort, Mary Rides the F Train, which is about a down-and-out artist befriending a mysterious woman on the subway (pictured December 31)
In February, Esposito bid farewell to the New York home she mortgaged in order to finance her feature directorial debut, Fresh Kills, back in 2022.
Last Saturday, the Hollyshorts Film Festival screened Hannah Rose Ammon’s 13-minute mother-daughter short We Do Our Best starring the self-described empath as Liv.
Esposito’s upcoming acting projects include Michael Mailer’s Vatican mystery Little Audrey starring Aidan Quinn, and Dave Baram’s magician drama Bullet Catch starring John Leguizamo.
The F Plus star is still crowdfunding for her second directorial effort, Mary Rides the F Train, which is about a down-and-out artist befriending a mysterious woman on the subway.
If you or someone you know needs help in the US, please call or text the confidential 24/7 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline at 988. If you are in the UK, call Samaritans at 116 123 for free. If you are in Australia, call Lifeline 13 11 14 or Kids Helpline at 1800 55 1800.
