Once I got past the initial hilarity of Serene Branson’s ill-timed inability to speak coherently during LA’s CBS Grammy coverage (not to mention the auto-tuned remix), I actually experienced pangs of guilt as I saw the terrified look on Branson’s face as she realized her condition, and I worried that perhaps she had a serious medical problem.
Unfortunately for people who tried to make me feel bad for laughing at something funny, Branson is fine: she experienced something called a migraine aura.
Once [doctors] ruled out stroke, the next step was to look at her medical history and her family history. It turns out Branson had suffered from migraines as a child, but had never had auras before. “That’s typical of migraines,” [Dr. Andrew] Charles said. “Each attack can be slightly different. Some people have auras only occasionally.”
Charles emphasized that Branson “is completely fine now. She has no residual symptoms. I expect this not to be a significant problem for her moving forward.” [LA Times via Vulture]
In other words, she has been medically cleared to laugh at. But in an appearance on the “Early Show,” Branson showed symptoms of a bruised ego:
“I hadn’t been on the Internet,” she said…” But my friend said something about seeing it on the news. And I said, ‘the news?’ And even at that point I said, ‘Gosh, I hope it doesn’t make it on YouTube.”‘
Honey, EVERYTHING makes it to YouTube.
Branson said watching herself in the clip is “troubling.”
“I know what was going through my mind at that time,” Branson said. “I was terrified. I was scared, I was confused. I didn’t know what was going on.” […]
“I knew something wasn’t right as soon as I opened my mouth,” Branson said. “I hadn’t been feeling well a little bit before the live shot. I had a headache, my vision was very blurry. I knew something wasn’t right, but I just thought I was tired. So when I opened my mouth, I thought, ‘This is more than just being tired. Something is terribly wrong.’ I wanted to say, ‘Lady Antebellum swept the Grammys.’ And I could think of the words, but I could not get them coming out properly.” [CBS News]
A-HA! That’s what the problem was! She tried to say, “Lady Antebellum swept the Grammys,” and her brain was like “FFFFFUUUUUUU I’m shuttin’ this bitch down.”
