Criminal Minds' Matthew Gray Gubler Suffered on Set Almost As Much As His Character
There were many bright characters in Criminal Minds, but it was Dr. Spencer Reid who had the most fans.
The young genius of the department, with an IQ of 187, could read 20,000 words per minute and had a phenomenal memory. Reid joined the FBI in 2004 and was always referred to as "Dr." Reid, as opposed to other agents who are referred to as "Special Agent."
The purpose of this was to make a respectable first impression of Reid, as he was not taken seriously due to his young age.
During his time with the department, Reid has been imprisoned, severely beaten, survived a drug addiction, nearly died from anthrax, and been injured. However, it seems that not only the character suffered, but also the actor, Matthew Gray Gubler.
The actor appeared on The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson and revealed that he suffered from a rare disease while filming the early seasons of Criminal Minds:
“I had a weird thing called achalasia. It's a weird thing where your throat won't open... For 26 days, I couldn't swallow anything. I had to lick butter to sort of stay alive.”
Achalasia is a disease of the digestive tract in which there is a lack of reflex opening and closing of the necessary sections of the esophagus that are activated during chewing and swallowing, resulting in injury during meals. Simply put, the process of getting food from the esophagus to the stomach is disturbed or does not occur at all.
Other symptoms are coughing and shortness of breath. Sounds like a lot of suffering, especially for an actor. The disease cannot be cured, only improved with medication, which Matthew seems to have done.
The actor was unable to join the cast due to a busy schedule, so fans are hoping to see Reid in season 2, which has been confirmed.