Ex-Disney actress Christy Carlson Romano has taken to social media to show off her battle scars after a terrifying accident occurred during her husband’s birthday party, which took place at a shooting range.
Romano — who’s burned into the core memories of every former Disney kid and millennial thanks to her roles in shows like Even Stevens, Cadet Kelly, and Kim Possible — came away with distressing injuries to her face after a shot went awry. In an Instagram post shared over the weekend, the 40-year-old actress explained that she took her husband clay pigeon shooting for his birthday, but the happy day took a scary turn when a rogue pellet fired by someone from another party hit her in the face.
In her video, recorded a day after the incident, Romano took her followers through what happened, revealing how close she came to a serious injury, but ultimately stressing that she was doing okay. “So I got shot in the eye. It was not fun. I am safe,” she revealed, indicating the nasty bruise under her left eye. Not that we needed any help in spotting it.
“I got shot here. It is still inside,” Romano admitted, indicating the two different wounds on her face where the pellet fragments have become lodged. She went on to praise the medical help she received in the aftermath of the terrifying event. “I’m very grateful to first responders as a whole. I mean, they’re just the most amazing, superhero-like people to take care of us at our most desperate times.” She added, “I get to say I got shot in the face, and lived to tell the tale,” before stressing that anyone watching should “be grateful for every day.”
In her caption to the video, Romano — most known for playing older sister Ren on early 2000s favorite Even Stevens — explained that “there was another party with us and they unsafely fired in the wrong direction and shot me in the face.” Her husband, Brendan Rooney then “sprung into action” and took her to hospital, where she discovered that she had been “hit in 5 places, one was less than an inch from hitting me directly in my right eye.” Romano isn’t out of the woods yet as she explained that “a fragment got lodged behind and is too risky to remove surgically at this time. Doctors will continue to monitor me (I can see normally at the moment).”
“With everything that happened, all I can think about is how grateful I am to be alive. I love my daughters, husband, family, and friends so much,” was how the mother-of-two concluded her caption. “I saw my life flash before my eyes and I’m telling you, hug the people around you every chance you can. Life can change in an instant.”
While she still acts — and even continues her association with Disney, cameoing in 2019’s Kim Possible live-action movie — Romano has become more famous in contemporary times for her side hustle as an internet personality and podcaster, often opening the lid on the less savory side of her childhood success, e.g. the struggles with depression, self-harm, and alcohol abuse she faced in her teens and her estranged relationship with former on-screen sibling Shia LaBeouf. Romano was most recently seen on TV in the first eight episodes of the third season of reality show Special Forces: World’s Toughest Test, which is currently airing on Fox.
Published: Feb 11, 2025 12:33 pm