Hugh Grant has shed light on two disastrous incidents that left his family so shaken, they now ‘beg him’ to stay out of the kitchen. The English actor, known for his roles in Bridget Jones’s Diary, Notting Hill and various other classics, recently started cooking for the ‘first time in 64 years’.
However, this new hobby has not been without its mishaps. The star revealed that he’s not only poisoned his family but has ‘given them worms’ when accidentally serving undercooked chicken.
“It was dark, you see,” he confessed in a conversation with fellow actress Renée Zellweger and British Vogue. “It was on the barbecue and I stuck my Heston Blumenthal prod into it. I couldn’t quite read it. So I served it out – worms all round.”
Hugh Grant has shed light on two disastrous incidents that left his family ‘poisoned’
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While Hugh did not confirm what illness his family contracted, trichinosis is an especially common roundworm infection that arises from eating some undercooked meat.
Usually, this meat will contain trichinosis larvae which grows into adult worms inside the the small intestine, according to Mayo Clinic. At this stage, diarrhoea, stomach pain, tiredness and vomiting are among its common symptoms, but these typically intensify when the adult worms mate, producing more larvae.
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Left untreated, this larvae will then travel through the bloodstream and is likely to bury itself into muscle tissue, giving rise to numerous uncomfortable symptoms. This includes aching joints, swelling of the face and a high fever, in addition to irritated skin and pink eye.
In very severe but rare cases, trichinosis can lead to potentially fatal complications, including swelling of the brain, lungs, muscle layer of the heart wall and ‘meningitis’. The latter describes tissue which protects the spinal cord and brain.
Importantly, there have been ‘no human cases acquired from meat produced in the UK for over 30 years’, according to the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board. But it is ‘one of the most widespread foodborne parasitic diseases’ in the European Union, with occasional UK cases linked to food imported from overseas.
Actors Hugh Grant and Renée Zellweger are both in the fourth Bridget Jones’s Diary movie
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The London-based Mayo Clinic stated: “Symptoms last for several months. But symptoms generally lessen when the larvae form cysts. Even after the infection is gone, fatigue, mild pain, weakness and diarrhoea may last for months or years.”
Despite Hugh’s cooking nightmare, the actor admitted that he still ‘can’t stop barbecuing’ and purchasing outdoor cooking equipment. With winter now here, he’s even bought indoor tools like Le Creuset kitchenware, but added that his children persistently beg him not to cook.
Hugh’s interview comes just weeks before the highly anticipated Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy sequel hits cinemas on Valentine’s Day (February 14). Cineworld reports that Hugh, who stars as ladies man Daniel Cleaver, has described the plot as ‘very sad’, and ‘insisted that a correct backstory between Bridget and Daniel be included so the emotional undertow of the film wasn’t ruined’.