'Blind Side' actor Quinton Aaron opens up about stroke, marriage shock
Actor Quinton Aaron is opening up for the first time about his health and relationship.
In an exclusive interview with ABC News' Steve Osunsami, "The Blind Side" star said he made a shocking discovery about his marriage while fighting for his life in the hospital after a spinal stroke in January.
Aaron -- who rose to fame with his role in 2009's "The Blind Side," in which he starred as football player Michael Oher alongside Sandra Bullock, who won an Oscar for her portrayal of Leigh Anne Tuohy -- is now in physical therapy at an Atlanta hospital, working to regain his ability to walk.
The 41-year-old actor told Osunsami that after the stroke, he was in a coma for four days and needed help breathing for a month.
When he woke up, he said his family told him that his wife, Margarita DeLeon, was still married to another man and could not legally make medical decisions on his behalf.
"And that's what eventually led to the doctors removing her from around me," Aaron told Osunsami in an interview that aired Monday on "Good Morning America."
Aaron claims that throughout their relationship, DeLeon told him she had been divorced for more than a decade.
"The entire time we were together, she told me she had been divorced for 10 plus years,” he said. "She even told the person where we were getting married, 'Oh yes, I have all the documents. I can email over to you the divorce decree.'"
"But you never checked on your own?" Osunsami asked.
"That's my biggest mistake, you know?" Aaron replied.
Aaron said the couple married two years ago at a wedding chapel in Los Angeles.
He claims that while he was hospitalized, an attorney found records showing she was still married to a man she wed in 1992.
"You did love her," Osunsami said.
"Yes, I did," Aaron responded.
DeLeon disputes Aaron's account, telling ABC News it was a mistake and she was unaware her divorce had not been finalized.
She also said there had been tension between her and Aaron's family.
"When I told Quinton back in the hospital bed, and I want to be very honest about this, I feel like this needs to be said and brought out there. I said to him, I said, 'Bibi, this information that your family pulled up on me, you know, I wasn't aware of it.' I said, 'This is what I found out. It is true,'" DeLeon said in an interview that also aired Monday on "GMA."
DeLeon's husband filed for divorce in February. He confirms her account of the divorce, telling ABC News that they both thought their divorce filing had gone through years ago.
Aaron said the experience has changed how he approaches relationships.
"If I had a chance to do it over. I would have done my due diligence. I would've definitely done a lot more research," he said.
Now focused on his recovery, Aaron said he is undergoing intensive rehabilitation and managing diabetes, which doctors say contributed to the stroke.
"He's in therapy every day, three hours a day. That is the benchmark of all inpatient rehabilitation facilities," Dr. Nithin Devireddy, medical director at the Rehabilitation Hospital of Atlanta, a joint venture between Piedmont and Encompass Health, where Aaron is being treated, told "GMA" of his recovery.
The actor has been open about his health in recent years, sharing photos in October of his 200-pound weight loss journey.
Aaron said his recovery could take time, but he remains optimistic, including about returning to acting. "The Blind Side" actor says he currently has a few new projects lined up.
"The doctors projected that it could take months, it could be a year, or up to a year," Aaron said of regaining his ability to walk.
"And I said, 'I don't claim that time frame. I'll be walking a lot sooner than you think.' You know, and that's just how I believe," he continued. "That's how, you know, between me, my faith, and my relationship with God."
When asked by Osunsami what he would tell his younger self after all he has faced this year, Aaron said, "Learn to pay attention to a lot, a lot of stuff."
"I started paying attention to my body because I found out over the years, it was speaking very disrespectfully to me, and I was ignoring it," he added.
