Jon Bernthal Dropped Movie Role Due to Daughter's Illness

The Walking Dead alum and Punisher star Jon Bernthal dropped out from an upcoming movie role when his 2-year-old daughter became ill with a vital infection.

Adeline Bernthal was diagnosed with encephalitis, an infection which causes swelling of the brain, and demands to be taken seriously. In an interview with Men's Health magazine, Bernthal revealed that his daughter Adeline had fallen into a coma for three days. When she woke up, the little girl did not immediately recognize her family, which was scary for the father.

Erin Angle, Bernthal's wife and a trauma nurse, helped Adeline by staying calm and "pouring love into our daughter every step of the way," according to Bernthal.

"People talk about bravery like fake macho bravery, but my wife didn't flinch," Bernthal said. "What I saw in my wife was courage and beauty unlike I'd ever seen." Adeline made a full recovery and is now 3 years old.

Bernthal took a break from talking about his popular TV franchise roles to get a bit more personal in the interview, breaking down how he and his wife came to meet. The couple met at a bar in Washington, D.C. after he returned from performing in Russia. After seeing his friend talking to two women, Bernthal marched over and joined the conversation.

"I came over and was just rudely messing around, and I know this is the corniest thing in the world, but when I actually saw Erin, it was literally like angels were singing. I had never seen anyone so beautiful," Bernthal said.

After talking for more than 45 minutes that night, the two started dating. Eventually, they moved to Boston together while Bernthal studied at Harvard and Angle worked at Mass General. Later, they would move to Los Angeles, where they broke up before Angle moved to San Francisco. Bernthal would not let that be the end of it, so he drove up to San Francisco (which is quite a hike from Los Angeles) to put flowers and written poems on her car.

In truly winning fashion, Bernthal managed to not only get two tickets to a Willie Nelson concert but also have the iconic country music singer perform a song for her.

"I snuck backstage. I found this beautiful postcard and wrote Willie this long letter and rolled him a beautiful joint and told him the situation with me and my woman," Bernthal said. "I told him she's a good-hearted woman in love with a good-timin' man, and I asked him to play this one song 'Always on My Mind' for us, and he did."

Bernthal and his wife have been together since.

The Walking Dead airs Sundays at 9 pm ET. The Punisher Season Two is expected within the next couple of months on Netflix. Fear the Walking Dead will return for its fifth season in 2019. For complete coverage and insider info all year long, follow @BrandonDavisBD on Twitter and watch ComicBook.com's After The Dead each Sunday night following new episodes.