Jon Gosselin was hospitalized after being bit by a deadly Brown Recluse spider while sleeping in his Reading, Pennsylvania home. The “Jon and Kate Plus 8” alum spoke to The Sun about the incident and explained that he woke up that night in “excruciating pain.” The former reality star’s leg swelled to double its normal size as he rushed to seek medical aid.
“I was DJ-ing for the weekend in Philadelphia and I finally felt free,” Jon, who recently split from his longtime girlfriend, told the outlet. “It was my first real single weekend. I was totally ready to open up and meet new people and start fresh. But I woke after a night of music and fun and went to stand up only to fall back down on the bed. I was in excruciating pain.”
“My first thought was ‘What now?’” Jon shared. “I have had a rough year, my breakup was hard, then I got Covid which was bad.”
“It was really weird because when I looked at my leg I realized it was twice the size and there’s a red-looking blister with a large red circle around it,” he explained. “It kind of looked like a cigarette burn, but really raised.”
Jon said that he managed to limp to his car and drive himself to a nearby hospital.
“The doc immediately knew the pain was from a Brown Recluse, which is a deadly spider,” he said. ”My entire leg had swollen up from the cellulitis.”
“The doctor told me that I was lucky to come in because if you don’t treat this you can lose limbs or die from a bacterial infection,” he added. “It’s crazy because one moment I was DJ-ing and having the best weekend and next thing you know my life was in danger again.”
Jon shared that he called an exterminator to make sure that the spider was gone.
“I just wish I knew where the spider was so I can take my revenge,” he said. “I went through days of severe pain and now the antibiotic is so strong it’s made me ill. I’m losing pounds again.”
Jon is currently recovering from the ordeal after a round of antibiotics and applying antibiotic cream to the bite.
“It’s finally healing after a week and the swelling has improved and the pain is just where the bite is rather than my entire leg,” he said.
Brown Recluse spider bites can lead to limb loss if not treated quickly. The venom destroys cell membranes which leads to the breakdown of skin, fat, and blood vessels in the bite area. Side effects can include extreme pain, ulcers, fever, chills, nausea, joint pain, and even seizures. The spiders are most commonly seen in the central and southern parts of the U.S.
