It’s hard to imagine Emily In Paris without Mindy, Emily’s unashamedly colourful and over-the-top best friend. But a Mindy-less season four was almost what happened after actor Ashley Park suffered from a terrifying and life-threatening bout of sepsis shock back in January. Thankfully, with the support of her boyfriend and co-star Paul Foreman, she made it through and became juuuussst well enough to begin shooting in Paris a few months later. Now, with World Sepsis Day on September 13, Ashley wants the world to know that sepsis can happen to anyone — no matter how healthy you think you are.
I was lucky enough to sit down for a chat with Ashley and the rest of the Emily In Paris cast after Netflix flew me over to Rome to catch the premiere.
“I think that me and a lot of people in my life didn’t know what sepsis was,” Ashley tells PEDESTRIAN.TV.
“It’s a condition when your organs fail. And it’s something that you can get from something as small a cut on your finger. I got it from tonsillitis.
“I think just amplifying and encouraging people to search what that is, and understanding what it is, understanding how critical it can be, and making sure that you have access to that information.”
Although her scenes in Emily In Paris season four look lighthearted and effortless, Ashley admits that coming back to film so soon was a struggle.
“It’s something I’m still processing,” she continues.
“And for me, despite the amount of joy I feel I don’t think I could have gotten through a season, and I shouldn’t have gone back to filming, but I was able to because this was our fourth season and I had a strong support system.
“I didn’t get to go back home before I came to Paris to start filming. If it hadn’t been for Paul Foreman being with me. I don’t think I’d be here at all. And so I think it meant the world to me to have people that I really loved and trusted where I was going to recover.”
For the cast and crew, supporting Ashley while she recovered was of the utmost priority. Especially for her on-screen and IRL bestie Lily Collins.
“Honestly, it was whatever she needed,” Lily explained.
“We welcomed her with open arms. We missed her, we loved her and it was really like you tell us — open comunication,” she said.
“She was incredible and so strong. And she killed it this season. She’s up there on stage performing, and it always makes me cry, even if it’s a funny scene, I just cry because I am so proud of her. We were just so happy to have her there.”
According to the Australian and New Zealand Intensive Care Society (ANZICS) — the advocacy body for intensive care-related health matters — an Australian is admitted to the ICU with sepsis every 20 minutes. But despite this high number of cases, there hasn’t been a breakthrough development in the treatment of sepsis in over 20 years.
“In 2024, we are still battling sepsis as the rate of infectious diseases continues to rise in the last decade,” says intensive care specialist and ANZICS Registry director, Professor Ed Litton.
“On top of the fact that every 20 minutes an Australian is admitted to ICU with sepsis, there are long-term impacts on the individual as more than 1 in 20 then need to remain hospitalised for rehab.”
While sepsis can be scary, when caught early enough it is entirely treatable.
Emily In Paris season four, part two comes out on September 12 on Netflix.
The post Emily In Paris’ Ashley Park On Almost Dying From Sepsis: ‘I Shouldn’t Have Gone Back To Filming’ appeared first on PEDESTRIAN.TV .
