by
CNN
—
In a rare interview, twin brothers Ashton and Michael Kutcher talked about both their bond and their separation.
The couple appeared on the new Paramount+ series “The Checkup with Dr. David Agus.”
Agus, Ashton Kutcher’s doctor, first spoke with the actor about his struggle with vasculitis, an autoimmune condition.
He then sat down with the brothers and recounted the moment when Michael Kutcher had cerebral palsy, and also nearly died after contracting viral myocarditis when he was young, which caused his heart to enlarge and fail.
While Ashton visited him in the intensive care unit, both brothers were touched by Michael’s cardiac arrest.
“I walk into the room and I’m like, ‘Wow,'” said Ashton Kutcher, trying to suppress her tears. “I… ‘Everything is not okay.’ And it flattens in the room and I know this noise because now I visit it occasionally.
He said he was thinking of jumping off the balcony to help his brother, as his heart would beat a match. Michael Kutcher received a donor heart within 24 hours.
He later had to undergo open heart surgery after a blood clot was discovered. Meanwhile, Ashton Kutcher’s career as a model and actress began to take off, and she said she felt guilty.
The star of That 70s Show asked, “How could I be so lucky?” He said he was wondering.
“For my brother… being born with cerebral palsy, then having a heart transplant, then having this random blood clot, ‘Who has to go through this?’ these things you are like,” he said.
Michael Kutcher said he was finally looking for her.
“He looked at me and said, ‘Every time you feel sorry for me, you make me less,'” Ashton Kutcher said. “He said, ‘This is the only life I’ve ever known, so stop worrying about the only thing I have.’ And that then created a full transition to where I think we are today, which is equal again.
Michael Kutcher told Agus that after his brother became “a household name”, the siblings distanced themselves from each other because of jealousy.
“There was a moment when I saw him getting more attention than I did,” said Michael Kutcher. “It took me to a place where I was jealous.”
“And when I took all and everything from fame, I was just, you know, able to go back to it,” said Michael Kutcher, noting that the brothers had talked about this from start to finish.
They also had a problem after the actor made it public that his brother had cerebral palsy, something Michael Kutcher didn’t share. Ashton Kutcher said during the interview that he was unaware that his brother was keeping it a secret.
Michael Kutcher is now an advocate for people with disabilities.
