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'Sick' Jeremy Piven Defends Fishy Excuse

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posted: 172 DAYS 10 HOURS AGO

comments: 29

filed under: Highbrow, Out Sick, TV News

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(Jan. 12) - After weeks of being a favorite punching bag of the New York press following his abrupt exit in the Broadway play 'Speed the Plow,' Jeremy Piven has spoken out to defend his oft-mocked reason for quitting.

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The given excuse, mercury poisoning, has not gone over well in the Broadway community; even David Mamet, the show's playwright, got into the act, quipping that Piven "wants to be a thermometer." After last night's Golden Globes, where he failed to win a statue, the 'Entourage' star spoke to Fox News' Roger Friedman about the fallout:

"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."

Piven said he has no hard feelings toward former co-stars in the show that have been hard on him since leaving, namely Raul Esparza, who addressed the audience at the end of the first post-Piven performance, saying, "I'm sure you've read the headlines about the silliness in our show. Today was the first time I really enjoyed playing this show. I hope you weren't expecting a big TV star."

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And at last night's HBO party, the actor got to speak with ex-castmate Elizabeth Moss for the first time. "We’re okay," Piven said. "She said she understood. She knew how much I put into the play."

Piven said years of eating only fish and vegetables caused the poisoning, and that he expects to get back on stage eventually. "My life has always been in the theater. I was raised in the theater."

'Speed-the-Plow,' directed by Neil Pepe, opened Oct. 23 to enthusiastic notices and has done respectable business, grossing upward of $500,000 a week. The $2.26 million production was on the verge of recouping its costs before Piven left.

He was replaced by Norbert Leo Butz and William H. Macy.

2009-01-12 09:52:41

Dan Steinberg, AP

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JerseyDeb1

09:44 PMJan 17 2009

Mediocre actor at best. With a head as big as Texas.

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OTR PU

03:33 AMJan 13 2009

Anytime I've read anything in print about myself or my family or anybody I personally know the story of. . .what I've read is usually slanted from the truth, sometimes so far that it wasn't even an represtentation of what had happened. People run off at the mouth and pass and believe rumors. . .just for something to say I guess. Even if it's not correct.

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MCARTHJ

03:29 AMJan 13 2009

I too was very ill from mercury toxcity. I understand what Jeremy Piven went through because It took many years to finially get diagnosed by a homeopathic doctor who gave me a heavy metals toxcity test which showed that my mercury levels were off the chart (24 vs the normal of <3. Because traditional doctor after doctor failed to give me a heavy metals test I ended up with a psychiatric referral and was put on psychiatric medication. Because I knew that something was pysically wrong and because of my persistance and faith in God I finially found out why I was so fatigued and mentally unstable and spent years detoxing my body naturally and got off all head meds and am well today, with a mercury level of .8(less than what is normally acceptable)

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Pjgallo777

02:10 AMJan 13 2009

Time to call wa wa ambulance for some of you, get a life a real life. LOL

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NewInterlocutor

12:50 AMJan 13 2009

Two dollars! I want my two dollars!

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Hollywog1975

12:23 AMJan 13 2009

All of you coming down on him for being sick are a bunch of a-holes. I mean there is such a thing as karma and it will come back to bite you in the a**!Goodluck Pivs and look forward to seeing you in Entourage for a long time!!!!!

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RSkillsta

12:03 AMJan 13 2009

Piven is really an ex-KGB agent that is being silenced with radioactive sushi.

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Obabystar

12:02 AMJan 13 2009

Pivens-Liar Liar , pants on fire. And "whatever " about Cusack, I'd do him in a heart beat!!!!

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Marcele7

12:01 AMJan 13 2009

I like Jeremy Piven, we all like Jeremy Piven! He was sick, he went to the doctor, so in essence has a doctors note! What is wrong with everyone? When you're sick, I hope this bad karma you've tried to dish off to him comes back to you! No one should be working when they're ill. Honestly, people. & He is a GREAT actor. Show some empathy/sympathy. Pay it forward, and quit being so damn hard on your fellow Americans...

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The new mali49t

10:56 PMJan 13 2009

cusack is a pompus ******* i was an extra in high fidelity and all he did was talk down to people

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