Friday, July 1, 2011

"Parks & Recreation's" Aubrey Plaza discusses the stroke she had when she was 20

Aubrey Plaza, 27, (pictured) who plays the deadpan and snarky April Ludgate on "Parks & Recreation," was part of a story in Entertainment Weekly July 1 about the comedian Marc Maron, who has a popular podcast, WTF.

The intro into the story, "The Comedian's Comedian," revealed Plaza's most harrowing experience to be when she had a stroke age 20:

She was talking with her friends in Queens when she suddenly realized she couldn't feel her right arm. Then the whole right side of her body went numb. She tried to say something but all that came out was a strangled moan. She spent a few terrifying days in a hospital bed before regaining her ability to speak. In the years since her stroke, Plaza, who is now 27, has told almost no one this story outside of her family and closest friends. But here she is, in a stuffy garage crowded with books and old photos and guitars and recording equipment, telling it to a man she has met only once, briefly -- a 47-year-old stand-up comedian named Marc Maron.