Frankie Muniz was considered to be one of Hollywood’s most bankable teens.
You might remember him playing the lead in the hit sitcom Malcolm in the Middle in the
early 2000s.
But why can’t he remember filming the beloved show?
AT ALL.
What happened to the boy genius?
We’ll tell you all about it in our today’s video, including the time he ran errands while
having a mini-stroke.
Muniz’s undeniable talent and onscreen charisma scored the youngster an Emmy nomination and
two Golden Globe nominations.
And after his TV success, the young actor was cast in big-screen roles like Agent Cody
Banks, Big Fat Liar and My Dog Skip.
It seemed like Frankie was set to have a long career, but don’t they all?
Once Malcolm in the Middle wrapped, the star decided to take a step away from acting.
In the following years, he mostly vanished from the public eye, becoming a full-time
race car driver.
In 2009, though, Muniz suffered terrible injuries from a crash and had to put a stop to the
new thing in life that brought him joy.
And it wasn’t the first serious health setback young Frankie encountered in his life.
Muniz has been in and out of the hospital and admitted to suffering at least FIFTEEN
transient ischaemic attacks, otherwise known as mini-strokes.
Furthermore, he had his first concussion when he was seven years old while playing goalie
in a soccer game.
Throughout his young life, he’s had NINE concussions in total.
But things took a turn for the worse when he suffered a mini-stroke in 2012.
Nobody was more surprised to learn that former Malcolm in the Middle star had a mini-stroke
than the actor and musician himself.
“I felt like I was getting stabbed in the head — the worst headache you could ever
think of.
I couldn’t see anything,” he said back then.
After a morning workout, Muniz hopped on his motorcycle to pick up a few things at the
home of his former fiancée’s mother across town.
As he was driving, the vision in his right eye began to blur.
“I thought I had something on the visor of my helmet.
I couldn’t focus out of my right eye,” he says.
By the time he got there, he pretty much had no vision in his right eye.
And when he got home from the short drive, he felt even worse.
Frankie was dizzy and in a lot of pain.
His hands were numb.
“I didn’t really have good balance, and I was almost dropping the bike.
I never had this before.
I was like, ‘What’s going on?’” he said, thinking of how quickly the symptoms
came on and then intensified.
His fiancée was home when he arrived and tried to assess his condition.
“But I was saying things, and she said, ‘You’re not speaking English.’”
Thankfully, the actor went to a hospital, where he was treated and released.
At that point in life, Frankie was playing the drums for the band called Kingsfoil and
had plans to head out on a tour that weekend.
Though Muniz admits he eats like a 7 to 10-year-old-kid, he lives a healthy lifestyle.
“I never in my life had a sip of alcohol or even touched a drug,” he says.
“I take a lot of pride in that.”
But the incident left him shaken.
And due to suffering multiple concussions and mini-strokes in his life, Muniz experiences
severe memory loss.
Most people think that his most memorable year would be the year Malcolm in the Middle
started, because it allowed the actor to live all these dreams.
“The truth is, I don’t remember much of that ... It almost feels like it wasn’t
me.”
In the last five years, Frankie has suffered from nine transient ischaemic attacks.
The actor believes the TIA — which temporarily cut off blood circulation to the brain — have
contributed to his memory loss.
“Things pop back into my mind that I should have remembered.
I should have remembered going to Australia.
That’s something people remember,” Frankie revealed.
Thankfully, Frankie’s wife, Paige Price, is there to support him.
Paige keeps a journal of events to try and help Frankie with his memory.
“I get sad of the thought of losing the memory because I know that I do, so she writes
literally in detail,” he explained.
Reflecting on what it’s like to have gaps in his memory, Muniz says, for the most part,
it doesn’t bother him.
“I only know what it’s like to be me.
Or have my brain.”
The only time he’s reminded of how bad his memory is when people ask the actor: “Remember
we went on this trip to this country?”, and he has no recollection of it.
In the meantime, Frankie’s short-term memory is just fine, so remembering his steps on
Dancing with the Stars wasn’t an issue.
Oh, yes, the former child star not only participated in the show, but also co-hosted Dancing with
the Stars: Juniors.
Might we say the last stint prepared him for the most important role of his life — fatherhood?
On March 25, Frankie and Paige welcomed their first child together, revealing the happy
news via Instagram.
“World, meet my son Mauz Mosley Muniz.
That was the moment that my life changed forever,” the 35-year-old said.
“I had heard that it would, but I never would have expected the impact seeing my son
would have on me.”
Price posted similar photos of the baby boy to her Instagram, and in the caption, she
shared how to correctly pronounce his name: “(P.S.
Mauz rhymes with pause, in case you were wondering how to pronounce it.).”
“My entire life, I was terrified of children and having that responsibility to raise them
into good human beings.
Today, I am so proud of the fact that I have an ultra-strong boobie hungry little monster
that I get to call my own!”
she captioned her photos.
Muniz now has given up his motorcycles and will stick to listening to the K-LOVE radio
station “while driving the speed limit.”
The couple got married in February 2020, and announced their pregnancy in September with
a YouTube video.
“The second I heard that heartbeat, reality set in.
I was throwing out baby names and future career choices,” Muniz gushed at the time.
While the little one must keep the new parents busy, they also manage to run a business together.
A few years ago, the two bought a speciality shop called Outrageous Oils & Vinegars in
Arizona.
“We had been customers at the store before, and we just knew we liked the product, and
we wanted to do something together.
Now, it’s become our lives,” he laughed.
Muniz and Price — both first-time retail shop owners — have taken a hands-on approach
to run their first business together.
The shop is no celebrity vanity project.
Instead, they spend most of their time managing inventory and giving new customers a tour
of the shop.
“We’re not just ordering product and putting it on the shelf.
We bottle everything.
We label the bottles.
We seal everything.
It’s a lot of work, but it’s really rewarding when people come in and rave about the product.”
Running the business has allowed Muniz to indulge in one of his passions: Working with
numbers.
“I love doing payroll.
I love doing anything with the financials.
I’m a numbers guy, so this has been like a dream come true for me,” he said.
Meanwhile, Price is in charge of picking out the inventory, running social media and maintaining
the shop’s website.
“Where Frankie might not be on top of something, I’m on top of it.
Or if I’m not on top of something, Frankie always has my back.”
The products at Outrageous Olive Oils & Vinegars have been a game-changer for the couple.
“Getting him to eat a salad was like the world was ending,” Price laughed.
Now, they enjoy experimenting with different dressings, marinades and flavour pairings,
using the products they sell at the store and find at farmers markets.
In May 2020, he expressed his gratitude on Instagram for all the orders he’s received.
He captioned a snap with the product, saying: “Words can’t express our gratitude for
all the orders we’ve received over the past couple of weeks.
It makes @pogmuniz and I feel extremely appreciated.”
Don’t fret.
Frankie occasionally comes back on screen.
This March, many fans were delighted to see the actor grace their TV screens in the third
season of The Rookie, a police procedural drama with Nathan Fillion.
Seeing @frankiemuniz on my screen again is the BEST!!!!
#TheRookie Absolutely love @frankiemuniz on #TheRookie
tonight!
He’s such a GREAT actor!
Some fans, however, are finding it a bit too on-the-nose that Frankie Muniz, a former child
star himself, played a lifelong actor-turned-cult leader, which goes to show just how impressive
his performance was.
Frankie Muniz playing an ex-child star who is now a cult leader is a bit creepy #TheRookie