Chase Stokes revealed that he secretly battled multiple health scares after wrapping Outer Banks season 5.
“I had so much s*** wrong,” Stokes, 33, told The Hollywood Reporter in a profile published Friday, August 21. “I left that show [and] my liver was failing, my kidney was failing. I had so many health issues that I had to figure out, and my brain was all out of whack.”
Stokes has played John Booker Routledge on all five seasons of Netflix’s Outer Banks, which recently dropped its fifth and final season. After wrapping the treasure-hunting series, Stokes prioritized his health.
“It was a really important time for me to get my bearings right versus just go back into work and mask it,” Stokes recalled.
According to Stokes, he underwent biweekly blood tests and participated in transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) therapy. (He has not publicly disclosed a specific diagnosis.)
“It’s been a lot of work to get back to baseline,” he added. “It was definitely scary for a little bit.”
The outlet further reported that Stokes has since started feeling “more like himself again” and is diligent about attending his frequent therapy sessions.
“Unfortunately, we’ve seen great people leave this earth too soon for just continuing to go [on], and I have a lot to live for,” Stokes stated. “I have a lot that I want to do, and a lot I want to accomplish. Hindsight is 2020, but I probably, unfortunately, wouldn’t have been around much longer if I didn’t take care of my body, which is a really jarring thought.”
After managing his health battle, Stokes is ready for his next chapter in Hollywood including landing a leading role in AMC’s Thunder Road.
“I had a three-hour conversation with our showrunner yesterday about [my] character. Our writers are just phenomenal,” he teased of the upcoming NASCAR series. “I’m terrified. I’m truly terrified because I’ve had this safe space of Outer Banks, and now I’m going into an entirely different world.”
Even as he moves on from John B, Stokes will forever be grateful for his part in Outer Banks.
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“The show has consistently done billions and billions of views. It’s not like I did a network show that was OK. This show was a monster — it’s silently been one of Netflix’s biggest shows globally for five years,” he told THR. “I truly never in a million years thought that I would ever be a part of something that had the impact that this character, and this universe, has created. I’m so grateful that I was a part of something that gave people hope in a very confusing time in human history.”
He continued, “I’m really proud of the messaging, and the storytelling, and being a part of something that didn’t round the edges, that really hit it head on, because I think that’s how I tackle life. … I feel great for the first time in a long time.”
Outer Banks is now streaming on Netflix.
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