Oscar Winner Aaron Sorkin Reveals He Had A Pretty Serious Stroke And Had Trouble Talking And Typing

Aaron Sorkin is one of the most famous screenwriters in the world. He has won multiple Oscars and is probably responsible for some of your favorite films, including, The Social Network, Moneyball, and A Few Good Men. He also wrote and created the hit show, The West Wing.

Safe to say, the dude has a lot of talent, and we almost lost that talent back in November of last year. During a revealing interview with The New York Times, the 61-year-old filmmaker admitted he suffered a stroke last November.

He woke up in the middle of night and when he got up to walk, he was bumping into walls and had trouble standing still. He managed to force himself back to sleep, but when he woke up in the morning, he noticed that he kept spilling his juice.

Sorkin went to the doctor and that’s when he discovered he suffered a stroke. He says his blood pressure was incredibly high. In fact it was so high that Sorkin said he was supposed to be dead.

For about a month afterward, [Sorkin] was slurring words. He had trouble typing; he was discouraged from flying for a few weeks; and until recently, he couldn’t sign his name (he has just discovered, thanks to ‘Camelot’ autograph seekers, that that’s improving). Those issues are now behind him, and the main lingering effect is that he still can’t really taste food.

He described the event as a loud wake-up call. He thought he was one of those people who could eat whatever they wanted and smoke as much as they wanted, but obviously that’s not the case.

Smoking has been a “habitual part” of Sorkin’s life since high school. When he writes, he smokes. It was as essential as a pen to him, but after his stroke, he quit, and now he’s warning others.

The writer originally did not plan to go public with his stroke, but he decided to talk about it with The Times because ‘if it’ll get one person to stop smoking, then it’ll be helpful.’ Sorkin said for a long period of time he was smoking two packs of cigarettes a day.

Daaamn. Two packs a day? That’s some serious smoke. We’re glad he’s put the cigarettes down. There’s more screenplays still inside him that need to come out!