"America's Got Talent" judge Howie Mandel shared that his wife, Terry Mandel, fell after ingesting marijuana gummies, the New York Post reported. This clarified earlier statements about the incident that left Terry Mandel in a pool of blood during a recent trip to Las Vegas.
The 68-year-old actor spoke about the ordeal on ABC's LIVE with Kelly and Mark Monday. Howie Mandel mentioned that his wife was "tipsy" after a night out, which led to reports that she was drunk.
The former Deal or No Deal host wished to set the record straight that she was instead under the influence of edibles. "First of all, she wasn’t drunk," he said Tuesday to TMZ.
"I’m going to tell you the truth: she took gummies. So it’s not an alcohol problem; she was on pot," Howie Mandel said of his 68-year-old wife.
Howie Mandel used his wife's fall as fodder for the morning talk show after host Mark Consuelos prompted him. "We partied," the Bobby's World creator and voice actor recalled.
"It was too much. And [Terry] was tipsy. I did not know that, and in the middle of the night, she got up and, I don’t know where she was headed, but she headed into the wall," Howie Mandel continued.
"And she fell and hit the wainscoting. She hit that as she went down. She slipped, went down, hit that on her eye, then fell on the floor, and broke her cheek," he added.
Howie Mandel went on to describe the scene in the aftermath of her fall. "I turn on the light, I look, I look around the bed," he continued.
"She’s in the corner, face down, and I didn’t know she’d cut her head. But blood is pooling," he said.
"I freaked out. I picked her up, I put her on the bed. There’s blood every[where]. I went and grabbed all the towels, and all the towels are covered with blood. And she’s going ‘Get me ice. Get me ice.’ I don’t know where to get ice," Howie Mandel recalled.
He attempted to use a soda can as a cold compress, but noticed something disturbing after Terry Mandel tossed it away. "When she did that, I saw her head, and you could actually see her skull. It opened up. I freaked," the actor from the Emmy-winning drama "St. Elsewhere" recalled.
After receiving medical attention, Terry Mandel made a full recovery. "She is absolutely perfect. There is not a scar. She is beautiful," Howie Mandel said of his wife.
The frightening incident could have been much worse, but it still underscores the dangers of using mind-altering substances. Pot edibles and other iterations of marijuana are becoming legal and more widespread, which is a troubling development for just this reason.
