X-Men star left permanently blind in one eye after ignoring troubling symptom amid demanding schedule

An Oscar-nominated actor who starred in two X-Men movies has a long-term chronic condition that, without treatment, can cause blindness.

X-Men star Kodi Smit-McPhee recently revealed that he has suffered permanent vision loss in one eye after developing a cataract and delaying medical treatment.

Smit-McPhee played Nightcrawler in X-Men: Apocalypse and Dark Phoenix and even made a brief cameo in Deadpool 2. His character is a mutant with superhuman agility and the ability to teleport.

The 28-year-old actor, who earned an Academy Award nomination for The Power of the Dog in 2021, shared his health struggles in a recent interview with The Telegraph.

Smit-McPhee was diagnosed with ankylosing spondylitis at 18, a chronic inflammatory condition that causes pain, fatigue, and stiffness.

While working on major films, including X-Men: Apocalypse and Alpha, he started experiencing issues with his left eye.

However, due to his demanding schedule, he postponed medical consultations until it was too late to prevent irreversible damage.

Smit-McPhee explained, “Ironically, I was playing a superhero in X-Men, and then I was doing these other action films like Alpha. And I went through very tough times on those jobs.”

“I just didn’t follow up on it [the cataract].”

“You know, I was thinking too much and I couldn’t get back to the doctor. Eventually, the cataract had done so much damage. It was in atrophy.”

“So in that eye, I can’t see anything.”

Reflecting on his health challenges, Smit-McPhee attributed them partly to unresolved childhood trauma.

He became a successful actor at a young age but struggled with personal pressures, particularly following his parents’ divorce.

He shared, “Looking after my family and projecting these ideas on to myself… while I saw [acting] as the greatest experience of my life, I also saw it as, like, ‘Oh, this is something that I can do to save everyone.'”

“Everyone was splitting up and my sister moved out. My dad was home and I thought: ‘Oh s***, I didn’t get to save everyone’. I only got to do it for myself and it felt very selfish. It felt like impostor syndrome.”

Despite his health setbacks, Smit-McPhee has had a successful career spanning over a decade.

His portrayal of Nightcrawler in X-Men: Apocalypse and Dark Phoenix catapulted him to fame. He also gained recognition alongside Viggo Mortensen in The Road (2009) and starred in Let Me In and Dawn of the Planet of the Apes.