Gal Gadot now understands what people mean when they say they’re “scared to death.” During a recent appearance on The Drew Barrymore Show, the Wonder Woman actress detailed a terrifying complication she experienced when she was pregnant with her fourth child. Gal, 39, says her mother helped save her life by urging her to advocate for herself when doctors dismissed her concerns.
While pregnant, Gal began experiencing extreme headaches.
The headaches Gal had when she was eight months pregnant were not ordinary headaches: They were so severe that she stayed in bed and “couldn’t hear or see anything.” On The Drew Barrymore Show, Gal detailed how the headaches “completely put (her) down,” per People.
“I had a hot bottle on my head and was just like this [lays back] all day, 24 hours,” she said.
The pain only got worse.
As time went on, Gal felt like her headaches “just got worse and worse and worse.” Though she sought out help from multiple doctors, they reportedly told her that what she was experiencing was “probably a nasty migraine.”
Gal said the doctors never recommended getting an MRI. Her mother, however, urged her to really push for one, which ultimately saved her life.
Gal was rushed to the hospital
Once she finally got an MRI, Gal was rushed to the hospital, where she found out she had a “major brain clot.” She had emergency surgery and gave birth to her daughter.
“If I had gone through a spontaneous delivery, I would not have been here,” she said.
She urged everyone to advocate for themselves in medical settings.
Now, Gal truly understands the importance of advocating for yourself. “None of the doctors sent me to get an MRI, even if we asked for it before,” she said on the show. “Always advocate for your health. Always. Listen to yourself, advocate for your heart. If anything, you just over-checked yourself, right?”
Later, she described how things might’ve happened differently if she had known to advocate for herself from the very beginning. “Had I known better, they could have just put me on blood thinners and done,” she said.
Now that she’s on the other side of the terrifying experience, she is trying to raise awareness. “Three out of 100,000 pregnant women will have a brain clot. But if you feel any symptoms just check yourself,” she said. “MRI is very easy and there’s no radiation or anything.”
When Gal announced the birth of her daughter, she wrote that ‘the pregnancy was not easy.’
Gal announced the birth of her fourth child, Ori, on March 6, 2024. At the time, she didn’t say exactly why her pregnancy was “not easy.”
“My sweet girl, welcome,” she wrote at the time. “The pregnancy was not easy and we made it through. You have brought so much light into our lives, living up to your name, Ori, which means ‘my light’ in Hebrew. Our hearts are full of gratitude.”
In December 2024, she opened up about the blood clot for the first time. “My family and I were faced with how fragile life can be,” she wrote on Instagram at the time. “It was a stark reminder of how quickly everything can change, and in the midst of a difficult year, all I wanted was to hold on and live.”
She also reflected on what she learned from the experience. “It’s vital to listen to our bodies and trust what it’s telling us,” she shared in her post. “Pain, discomfort, or even subtle changes often carry deeper meaning, and being attuned to your body can be life saving.” She added that “sharing this is not meant to frighten anyone but to empower.”
