Jeremy Piven Talks “Rich Man’s Disease”

Jeremy Piven has gotten a lot of heat for his “sushi defense” - and how he’s making light of it.

On ‘The Late Show‘ last night, the ‘Entourage’ actor poked fun at himself and his “disease,” saying “I think everyone loves a good fish story.” He was referring to his dropping out of the play ‘Speed-the-Plow’ due to purported mercury poisoning from eating too much fish.

“Which sounds like a rich man’s disease,” he said to Letterman. “It sounds like something you would get from the leather in your Lamborghini.”

He then talked about the overwhelming fatigue that led him to seek medical help, and the diagnosis that resulted in him leaving the theater production, which included mono and a heart condition.

“I had been eating nothing but fish for twenty years. I had taken out red meat and chicken and dairy products and everything,” he said. “I was doing the wrong thing and I didn’t know it.”

“And this turned into, ‘I ate a bad piece of yellow tail, and bolted,” he said, to audience laughter.

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