He is known for starring as Mayhem in the Allstate Insurance advertising campaign.
And Dean Winters knows all to well what the effect of a whirlwind of chaos can cause someone in their actual life.
The 57-year-old actor has revealed that he has been in constant pain since undergoing multiple amputations following a bacterial infection.
He told Page Six on Tuesday: ‘I haven’t taken a step since 2009 without being in pain.
‘I’ve been sucking it up’: Dean Winters (seen in April 2019) has revealed that he has been in constant pain since undergoing multiple amputations following a bacterial infection in 2019
‘I’ve got neuropathy on, you know, on a whole different level where I can’t feel my hands and my feet. But if I stepped on a pebble, it’s like I go through the roof.’
Winters had contracted a bacterial infection which lead him into cardiac arrest for over two minutes while he was in an ambulance ride across Central Park.
He was able to be revived by paramedics but got gangrene which resulted in two of his toes and half a thumb being amputated.
Winters said that he has learned to live with the physical suffering as he said: ‘It’s a very weird dichotomy. It’s like, it’s very hard to figure out. Nothing you can do about it.
Signature role: He is known for starring as Mayhem in the Allstate Insurance advertising campaign
Sad: Winters had contracted a bacterial infection which lead him into cardiac arrest for over two minutes while he was in an ambulance ride across Central Park
‘I’ve been sucking it up because, you know, the alternative is not a place where I want to be.’
Fans will be pleased to know that he will be reprising his role as Mayhem in the Allstate commercials.
He told Page Six that he originally turned down the role because he was undergoing a 10th surgery at the time but he said the company was ‘relentless.’
Interesting: He told Page Six that he originally turned down the Allstate role because he was undergoing a 10th surgery at the time but he said the company was ‘relentless’
Winters said: ‘It’s crazy if you look in the Webster dictionary, the Old English definition of the word |”mayhem” is “one with amputations.””
He is also set to star in upcoming Peacock limited series, Joe Exotic, which is based on the Wondery podcast, Joe Exotic: Tiger King.
The 30 Rock star, 56, will play Jeff Lowe, Exotic’s former partner-turned-enemy Jeff Lowe, who was one of the main characters in the successful Netflix docu-series, Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem and Madness (2020).
He is known for his previous work in 30 Rock, John Wick, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, and Oz.
Bad guy: He is also set to star as Jeff Lowe in upcoming Peacock limited series, Joe Exotic, which is based on the Wondery podcast, Joe Exotic: Tiger King
Home run: He is known for his previous work in 30 Rock (pictured), John Wick, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, and Oz
This is not the first time that Winters has talked about his near-death experience on June 19, 2009.
‘I had a rough ride in an ambulance,’ the actor told US in April 2019 while at the Tribeca Film Festival in his native New York City Friday. ‘I went septic due to an illness that I had as a kid and it caught up with me.’
Winters, who also played cunning inmate Ryan O’Reily on the groundbreaking HBO prison drama Oz, said he ‘had no idea what happened’ as his heart stopped beating.
The latest: This is not the first time that Winters has talked about his near-death experience on June 19, 2009. He was snapped in April 2019 at the Tribeca Film Festival in NYC
‘I was dead in the back of an ambulance,’ he said, ‘and the great doctors at Lenox Hill Hospital brought me back to life after around four-and-a-half minutes.’
The New York City native, who’s also been seen on 30 Rock, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit and Brooklyn Nine-Nine, said doctors didn’t tell him ‘what happened until a couple of months later’ in an effort to protect the patient.
‘They don’t want to send you back into a mental trauma,’ Winters said. ‘It woke me up to a lot of things that were fuzzy.’
Winters, speaking to Page Six a year after the incident, described the physical effects he experienced amid the illness, collapsing as his ‘whole head’ swelled up.
Tough time: The actor said he ‘had no idea what happened’ amid the health crisis 10 years ago
Breakout role: Winters played inmate Ryan O’Reily on the groundbreaking HBO prison drama Oz
Winters said he ‘died on Fifth Avenue’ while in an ambulance until paramedics revived him. He told the paper his recovery in the year that followed included a three-week stay in Lenox Hill’s ICU, and 10 operations performed over 95 days in medical facilities.
Amid a case of gangrene, doctors had to amputate two of his toes and a portion of his thumb.
‘I feel like I’m a member of a very exclusive club – with a very tight door policy. It’s gonna take more than a finger and a couple of toes to keep me down,’ he said.