Jeremy Piven talked about his mercury poisoning and claimed to have made up with at least one of his "Speed-the-Plow" costars.
At a Golden Globes afterparty Piven talked to Fox News about the uproar that happened when he dropped out of the Broadway play last month and his health leading up to it:
"I was so sick for most of the run of the show. Some days I would sleep right until the time I had to go to the theater. I didn't know what was wrong with me. I was exhausted. Finally, I went to a doctor at Greenwich Hospital in Connecticut just so it wouldn't turn into a circus. He said, 'you've got to stop working.' My heart rate was 47. My mercury level was off the charts. I hadn't had a real break in 20 years of acting.'"
Many people are skeptical of Piven's mercury excuse. Playwright David Mamet told the papers of Piven: "He wants to be a thermometer." Piven told me that was a funny line. "But what do you expect? He's a great writer." Piven told me he had nothing but respect for co-star Raul Esparza, even though Esparza has bad mouthed him publicly since the exit. Last night at the HBO party, Piven spoke for the first time to his other ex-castmate, Elizabeth Moss. "We're okay," Jeremy told me. "She said she understood. She knew how much I put into the play."
Read about Ezparza's bad mouthing.
During the NBC preshow, Piven told Tiki Barber:
"You know what, I'm so unbelievably grateful to be here and it was a completely humbling experience. I don't know if they've ever taken you out of a game, or if you've had to stop a season short, but that's basically what the doctors did to me. I could have gone against doctor's orders. I didn't, but I'm just grateful to be here."
More Globes coverage here.
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Tina Fey's speech
Sacha Baron Cohen's jokes
See Tracy Morgan's speech