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Frankie Muniz Opens Up on 'Dancing With the Stars' About His Memory Loss

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Frankie Muniz has been an actor, race car driver and drummer in a rock band. But on “Dancing With the Stars” last night, he revealed that he can’t remember most of it.

The theme of the episode was “My Most Memorable Year,” and in a pre-recorded segment before his performance, Muniz said people would probably think his most memorable year was when “Malcolm in the Middle” started. But then he explained he lives with memory loss.

“I’ve gotten to do really anything I’ve wanted to do. But the truth is I don’t really remember much of that,” Muniz said. “It almost feels like it wasn’t me. There’s no negative feelings, I just don’t necessarily remember.”

Muniz said he’s not exactly sure why he lives with memory loss but that he’s had nine concussions and several mini strokes, called transient ischemic attacks. He said he doesn’t know if those issues correlate with the memory loss because he’s never asked doctors why he has such difficulty with his memory.

“To be honest, I’ve never really talked about it,” he admitted.

Muniz’s girlfriend, Paige, writes down everything they do each day, which Muniz said he loves being able to look back on.

“It makes me a little sad that it doesn’t just pop back into my mind,” he said. “I’m like, I should have remembered going to Australia! That’s something people remember.”

Bryan Cranston, Muniz’s “Malcolm in the Middle” costar, also appeared in the segment and said he told Muniz not to worry about what he remembers and doesn’t remember because they’re still his experiences. “It’ll be my job, I will tell him, ‘Remember this, remember that on Malcolm? What a life for you,’” he said.

Still, Muniz said his most memorable year is 2017 because he learned to live in the present and he’s happy with his acting career, race car experiences and music career.

“Even if I don’t remember it all,” he said, “I’m happy.”

Image via Wikimedia Commons/Simon1756

Originally published: October 10, 2017
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