Malcom in the Middle Star Frankie Muniz Sets Record Straight on Memory Loss Rumors

For a generation of viewers, Frankie Muniz has been a staple of their childhoods, appearing in franchises such as Malcolm in the Middle and Agent Cody Banks. Muniz’s relationship with the public eye has shifted significantly since he initially stepped away from acting in 2008, including rumors that he might be suffering from amnesia after a series of mini-strokes in 2012 and 2013. In a recent appearance on the Steve-O’s Wild Ride! podcast, Muniz finally broke his silence on the ordeal, revealing that the mini-strokes were actually misdiagnosed and misreported by the media, and that he had been suffering from migraine auras.

“This is the first time that I’ve actually ever gotten to clarify [the rumor],” Muniz explained. “If you search my name, all it talks about is how like I have no memory or I’m dying of strokes and all this kind of stuff. … You search my name (and) it’s basically, ‘Frankie is dying’… I’ve thought about it a lot like over my years of like, you know, why do I have a bad memory? You know what I mean? The only logical thing I can say is, yeah, I’ve had nine concussions. I don’t want to blame the concussions or blame anything else. I just think it’s the fact that I did so f—ing much in that time frame that of course I can’t remember all of it.”

“To be honest, like, I love Dancing With the Stars, and I don’t want to say anything that will make them hate me, but they kind of tell you what your most memorable year is going to be,” Muniz continued. “You know what I mean? And they were like, ‘It’s 2001 because it’s when you were nominated for an Emmy and the Golden Globes’ and all that kind of stuff. And I go, ‘I don’t remember what I felt then. I don’t, you know? It was me kind of blowing off the fact that I can’t say ‘That’s my favorite year’ because I can’t tell you what happened in 2001… I had to say, like, ‘I don’t really remember.’ But I wasn’t saying I don’t remember anything.”

As Muniz mentioned, he previously spoke about his experience with memory loss — particularly with regards to remembering the experience of filming Malcolm in the Middle — while competing on Dancing with the Stars in 2017.

“Truth is, I don’t remember much [of Malcolm in the Middle],” Muniz explained. “It almost feels like it wasn’t me. It makes me a little sad. Things pop back into my mind [that] I should have remembered. I’ve gotten to do anything that I really wanted to do. But the truth is, I don’t really remember much of that.”

What do you think of Frankie Muniz’s most recent comments regarding his rumored memory loss? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below!