Ashton Kutcher Says Red Carpets Are Difficult Because He's 'Hard of Hearing' After Vasculitis Battle

Ashton Kutcher previously detailed his battle with a rare form of vasculitis, an autoimmune disease that caused vision and hearing loss and left him temporarily immobile

Ashton Kutcher. Photo: Rob Latour/Shutterstock

Hitting the red carpet hasn't been easy for Ashton Kutcher since his 2019 health scare.

While appearing on the Chicks in the Office podcast, the 45-year-old actor opened up about the memes surrounding his latest red carpet appearance, and how some people thought he looked awkward promoting his new romantic comedy, Your Place or Mine, alongside costar Reese Witherspoon.

Kutcher explained that doing red carpets is difficult because he still deals with hearing loss after suffering from a rare form of vasculitis.

"I can't hear very well, I'm hard of hearing in one ear and I can only hear in the other," he explained. "I don't know who's yelling my name but I know there's a lot of people yelling, 'Reese! Ashton! Over here! Look this way!' And at a certain point you're like, God this is really something. Look at the camera? Got it. Are we done? Awesome."

The That 70s Show alum first revealed his health struggle during an episode of National Geographic's Running Wild with Bear Grylls: The Challenge in August.

Vasculitis is an autoimmune disease that causes inflammation and narrowing of blood vessels, which restricts blood flow and can cause damage to the organs and tissue. Symptoms may include weakness in the hands and feet, abrupt hearing loss or temporary blindness in one or both eyes, according to the Mayo Clinic.

For Kutcher, the "terrifying, life-threatening" experience happened all of a sudden, he revealed during a candid conversation with his physician for the premiere episode of Paramount Plus' The Checkup with Dr. David Agus in December.

"I woke up one day and was having vision issues, could hardly see," he recalled. "Knocked out my hearing, which threw off my equilibrium, my balance and I couldn't walk."

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Since his year-long struggle against the disease in 2019, Kutcher has since made "impressive" progress with both his vision and hearing, his doctor Agus said. As for how the Butterfly Effect actor was able to make such strides, there's one special person to thank.

"I will say, your wife was amazing," Agus said of Mila Kunis. "Just curled up there by your side. It was a beautiful thing to watch."

Kutcher agreed, saying about his wife of seven years, "She's the best."

The Jobs star previously said he felt "lucky to be alive" in the aftermath of his battle with vasculitis. In his conversation with Agus, he revealed more about what he was feeling as he struggled through the disease.

"There's a standard you become accustomed to in your life, like being able to see clearly," he said. "And then suddenly you can't see, like you have this occlusion and you can't see. And then, you're like, 'Why are you not f---ing talking louder, because I can't hear you?' You want to reclaim the health that you once had."