The Entourage star was contaminated with the toxic metal after eating a lot of sushi prior to 2008 and the serious illness – which can cause death – subsequently forced him to drop out of the Broadway show Speed-the-Plow.
But he says he’s been undergoing a complicated medical procedure called ”chelating” ever since, which involves administering a form of acid to the body, which stops arsenic, lead, uranium, plutonium and other forms of toxic metal poisoning in its tracks.
The 50-year-old star told Cigar Aficianado magazine: ”I’ve been chelating my blood for the past eight years. I haven’t been 100 percent since then. When that was going on, I was unable to function and it was scary as s**t.”
And the Mr. Selfridge actor joked that his medical woes are ignored by fans, because his characters in the British series and Entourage cheat on their wives.
He quipped: ”But nobody cares because you play a bad guy on TV. Well, if you want to hate me, I can’t stop you.”
Other extreme side effects of chelating include cancer, neuro-developmental disorder from toxicity, dehydration, low blood calcium and harm to kidneys.