Jeremy Piven's Latest Fish Story: I Could Have Had A Heart Attack! (VIDEO)

Almost nine months later, Jeremy Piven is still explaining his departure from Broadway's Speed-the-Plow following a bout of mercury poison coupled with Epstein-Barr.

On Tuesday's Letterman, Piven told the host that 20 years of eating tons of fish (and no meat or dairy) left him with arrhythmia and a warning from one top doctor that he risked a heart attack if he kept up his eight Broadway shows a week.

He also threw in some trademark self-deprecation.

Asked how he got the Epstein-Barr, Piven replied, "Just from being a coward."

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I wish Jeremy Piven...

would shush about mercury poisoning

could move on. He's forgiven!

would keep crying poisoning! Mercury is a serious problem

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Comments

[kidjudas]

Ok so a hollywood celeb ate too much fish while avoiding meat and dairy. If he really wanted to be anything other than another B-list trying to eat healthy he should've gone vegan. He obviously cared more about his toupees and wigs than he did about the environmental impact of sashimi.

[Cacaoatl]

I've never believed Jeremy Piven's story. When it first broke it smelled (forgive the pun) fishy. I think he made the whole thing up to get out of Speed the Plow.

[Brown71]

Mercury is very dangerous. I was very sick through my 20's and had 13 "amalgam" filling removed over a period of two years. I have to be very careful how much fish I eat. I'm suprised Mr. Piven was still able to stand up after eating so much fish for so many years.

[ColoradoDan]

With his money, he could have had much some class and much better hair also ... what a load.

[NYCforObama]

Just don't touch the hair, Dave.

[57eddie67]

A little bit of Jeremy goes a long way.

[tommy2tone]

The NY Times sponsored a study on mercury in sushi restaurants a couple years ago, saying that there is enough mercury to cause problems. Here's the link - http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/23/dining/23sushi.html

Our knowledge about mercury poisoning is just starting to grow, and while the lobbyists in "Big Fish" (i.e., the National Fisheries Institute) are still running as many misdirections as they can, the field is growing. Read Jane Hightower, MD's book on mercury poisoning and the fishing industry:
http://www.amazon.com/Diagnosis-Mercury-Money-Politics-Poison/dp/1597263958

[walleymr]

could have ... should have ...

[Geoffrey Dunn - Huffpost Blogger]

Jeremy Piven is an absolutely brilliant actor. His turn as Ari on Entourage is one of the most fantastic comedic performances on television or otherwise in the last 30 years. As someone who has faced similar life-threatening issues, I know that he made the right decision. Give the guy a break. Take him at his--and his doctor's--word.

[newTheory]

I had no reason to doubt him when he first stated the reason. The more he goes on and on about it, however, makes one wonder if he's trying too hard to make something believable. You know, like how kids would try to lie their way out of something by coming up with a newer version of the previous story every 5 minutes until you finally give in and say "ok, ok, it wasn't you! ok?"

[mredder4]

There's a decidely anti-Piven slant to the stories about him, and it crosses the Objective Journalism line to call his version of events a "fish story" in the headline. Sure, it might be masquerading as "just a bad pun", but that's the kind of language that influences readers.

[BBCup]

I don't think there is such a creature as "objective' journalism any more.

[Chicago jo]

Objectivity only exists in journalism 101, first semester.

[Dailykook]

Apparently the longevity of the Okinawa is the highest in the world with there protein coming from fish.

[gtx281]

"YOU'RE F-ING LATE, ARI!" LOL

[Klaus1]

Rug it out b!tch!

[ShawnWolfe]

Wow. I just connected the dots between Frank Sutton (Sgt. Carter from Gomer Pyle) and Jeremy Piven. I think Sutton died of a heart attack and his Sgt. Carter character and Ari Gold aren't dissimilar. Unsympathetic explosive hot-heads with disarming smiles and throbbing veins in their foreheads.­..

Quick!!! Hollywood Morons!!! let's get a remake of Gomer Pyle on the fast track, before Piven uhsplodes.

Get Perez Hilton for Gomer and call it done.

[highburygoon]

I just laughed at the last line so hard, I had soda come out of my nose.

[3fingerbrown]

Only in our new celebrity-­media-gone­-amok world does an actor get more publicity mileage from not being in a play than for being in a play.