Christy Carlson Romano, star of the Disney Channel show Even Stevens, says she could still go blind after being shot in the face by stray birdshot last year.
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The Disney Star Says She Still Has Birdshot Near Her Eye
As PEOPLE reports, the 42-year-old Romano still has birdshot near her eye.
"I was peppered with birdshot at about 250 feet away, and I was struck in a fat pocket under my eye and also in my forehead. I still have birdshot behind my eye about a millimeter away from anything critical," the Disney star said. "If it were to move, I would go blind. So, we're hoping that doesn't happen."
"At one point, I thought that I was going to die," she added.
"When you have children, you can't help but start to see the world completely differently after an accident like that," the actress, who shares two daughters with husband Brendan Rooney, explained.
Christy Carlson Romano Is Thankful She Survived
The Even Stevens star and podcast host said she is thankful she survived the incident.
"My oculoplastic surgeon had said that, usually, he's taking people's eyes out, kids, because they've been shot with a Nerf gun," Romano said.
The Disney Channel star then added, "It just so happened to hit the right fat pocket right under the eye. And I really almost survived through a miracle because I think there was any amount of outcomes when it came to having birdshot striking my skull and my face."
Romano first talked about the incident last year. In an Instagram post from Feb. 2025, she said she was shooting clay pigeons in Texas for Rooney's birthday. Someone "unsafely fired in the wrong direction."
"I was hit in five places," she explained. "One was less than an inch from hitting me directly in my right eye."
"You are the bravest, toughest, most stoic and badass woman I have ever met," Romano's husband wrote in the comments.
He then added, "I am so thankful you are alive. I am so thankful you are the mother to our children. I wouldn't know what to do without you."
