Brian Austin Green is opening up about his health scare ahead of the birth of his fifth child.
The Beverly Hills, 90210 alum and his Dancing With the Stars pro girlfriend, Sharna Burgess, appeared on Thursday’s Good Morning America to talk about his bout with ulcerative colitis, an inflammatory bowel disease, which left him bedridden for six-and-a-half weeks right as she hit the halfway mark of her pregnancy. She recalled how debilitated he became and admitted she became “fearful” and worried about how long he would be so sick.
Green, 48, said he previously had ulcerative colitis, which causes ulcers in the digestive tract and irritates the lining of the large intestine and rectum, “a few times. It’s a real rough experience.” He added that Burgess, who he started dating in October 2020, “had never experienced [him having] it.”
“I didn’t realize how debilitating it was until I saw him and watched the weight drop off him,” the Australian dancer, 36, said about Green’s 20-pound weight loss. “I was scared also not having experienced this type of thing before and still learning. I was supportive and loving and ‘I’m here for you’ — and internally fearful of how long does this go on for?”
Green said he can keep it in control by avoiding gluten and dairy as much as possible.
“It’s really dietary,” he explained. “As long as I can keep things within my system that my body doesn’t think I’m poisoning it with, then it doesn’t fight back. I would eat food and my body didn’t literally process any of it. So then you start playing catch up with trying to … be hydrated enough. It’s such a battle.”
This was going on at what was supposed to be a happy moment in their lives — as they ready for their first child. Burgess had to carry things at home — with Brian’s three sons with ex-wife Megan Fox: Noah, 9, Bodhi, 8 and Journey, 5 — while Brian was ailing.
‘It showed me how much I really am capable of and that I do have a natural instinct for this,” said Burgess, who is now 33 weeks along.
Green added, “It’s amazing how people can adapt to situations and how well she has adapted to this one,” before the pair exchanged “I love yous.”
Burgess said she fell in love watching Green “be a dad” and seeing “the way he parents. I thought: Man, it would be so incredible to raise a child with him.”
While he didn’t initially want to have more kids — he’s also dad to Kassius, 20, with ex Vanessa Marcil — “Bri always knew that I wanted to have kids. That was a dealbreaker for me,” Burgess said.
Burgess previously revealed that she was on birth control when she became pregnant last year.
“We were thinking of trying mid to late this year,” she said in March. “But the Universe made her own plan, found a window and went for it.”
