Aubrey Plaza's Medical Emergency That Once Left Her Temporarily Paralyzed
In 2004, Aubrey Plaza suffered a stroke when she was just 20 years old — and it left her temporarily paralyzed and without the ability to speak.
In 2016, Plaza spoke to the Guardian about the incident, which happened while she was attending New York University as an undergraduate. As she told the outlet, she suffered from aphasia, a disorder which can severely impact one's ability to communicate. "I had expressive aphasia, where I could understand what's happening, but I couldn't talk or communicate," she recalled. "Like, you could say something and I would know what you meant but I couldn't express it or even write it. That was the weirdest part. When they gave me a piece of paper and a pen I just kept writing lines instead of words."
Not only that, but Plaza said that immediately after having the stroke — which is when either blood is prevented from getting to the brain or a blood vessel within the brain itself bursts — she couldn't walk. "When it first happened to me I was paralysed, but I was so young that my brain healed itself really fast. I was really lucky in that way."
Maybe the most frightening part of the entire ordeal, as Plaza explained to Fresh Air in 2017, is that because she appeared okay, she wasn't examined in the emergency room right away. However, when she was, her condition was immediately apparent. "And so then a doctor finally examined me, and I believe she asked me to put my right hand on my left knee. And I couldn't do it. I was confused about right and left. And I think that's when everyone realized, oh, like, she had a stroke."
Aubrey Plaza has never shied away from discussing health challenges
Aubrey Plaza has been remarkably open about her stroke and experiences with paralysis and aphasia (which is a net positive, as it helps remove any stigmas when it comes to discussing something as distressingly common as strokes). As she told Fresh Air, she was simply visiting a friend at their apartment when, mid-sentence and discussing a Hilary Duff concert she'd attended with her sister, she blacked out briefly. When she came to, she couldn't speak. Though her friends thought she was joking at first, they eventually realized that it was serious and called an ambulance.
"And the recovery was – you know, it was – there was no recovery. I mean when you have a stroke, you have a stroke," Plaza explained. "There's nothing you can do about it. Your brain has to heal itself."
Plus, Plaza added, she still has lingering complications from the experience, even after cognitive therapy and a successful recovery. "But I still have – there's still certain, you know, things that only I would notice that are kind of residual from – left over from that incident," she said. "And since then, I've had some minor – they call them TIAs, which are transient ischemic attacks, that are tiny little strokes. So something's up with my blood, but I don't know what it is."
Shortly after suffering a stroke, Aubrey Plaza booked her breakout role
Just a few years removed from a devastating medical setback, Aubrey Plaza landed her career-defining role. In 2009, she introduced the world to sullen intern April Ludgate on the NBC sitcom "Parks and Recreation." Despite a slow start — the show, created by Greg Daniels and Michael Schur, was originally intended to be a spin-off of "The Office" before it was re-tooled into something else entirely — "Parks and Recreation" hit its stride in Season 2, and Plaza's hilariously deadpan April was a huge part of its success.
Alongside an all-star cast that included Amy Poehler, Chris Pratt, Aziz Ansari, Adam Scott, Rob Lowe, Rashida Jones, Jim O'Heir, Retta, and newly minted Emmy winner Nick Offerman, Plaza helped make "Parks and Recreation" one of the most beloved shows of the 2010s — and despite its consistently low ratings, the show's following and love from critics helped it run for a solid seven seasons and avoid cancellation. Still, the best was yet to come for Plaza.
Now, Aubrey Plaza is one of the most in-demand stars in Hollywood
In 2022, Aubrey Plaza embarked on an entirely new creative journey with Season 2 of Mike White's hit anthology series "The White Lotus." Plaza's career remained healthy after "Parks and Recreation." She appeared in films like "Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates" and "Ingrid Goes West" as well as the small screen series "Legion." However, "The White Lotus" allowed the actress to flex her muscles as a performer and ultimately got attention from the Television Academy.
Plaza plays Harper Spiller, a haughty, smart lawyer who joins her husband Ethan Spiller (Will Sharpe) on a vacation to Sicily alongside Ethan's friend and colleague Cameron Sullivan (Theo James) and his wife Daphne (Meghann Fahy). It's immediately clear that Plaza wants little to nothing to do with the brash, arrogant Cameron or his wife, Daphne, who doesn't read or watch the news. Before long, though, she ends up ensnared in the other couple's web, going on a girls' trip with Daphne to Noto and shamelessly flirting with Cameron (to Ethan's dismay).
White cleverly leaves a lot of questions unanswered in the second season of "The White Lotus," one of which concerns Harper and whether or not she and Cameron had a secret tryst during the trip. Thanks to Plaza's knockout performance, audiences will never know for sure. Ultimately, the role earned Plaza her very first Emmy nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actress — and whether or not she takes home the trophy, her career will surely continue soaring to new heights.