Jenny McCarthy, 53, Is Living in a Tent Amid Mold Exposure Fears—Symptoms Women Shouldn’t Ignore
Doctors say mold is behind more chronic conditions than we realize and can be easy to miss
Key Takeaways
- Jenny McCarthy, 53, says she's living in a tent while undergoing a 'mold detox.'
- Mold exposure can cause allergic and respiratory symptoms, including stuffiness and wheezing.
- One woman traced years of unexplained symptoms to a hidden leak and household mold.
Actress Jenny McCarthy says the last two years have been “absolutely fricking insane.” The 53-year-old former Masked Singer judge recently revealed she’s living in a tent while she detoxes from what she describes as serious mold and mycotoxin poisoning—and her story is shining a light on a hidden health issue affecting far more women than most of us realize. Here’s everything we know about McCarthy’s mold exposure symptoms, how she’s doing today and how one Woman’s World reader overcame her mold-induced health issues.
Jenny McCarthy’s shocking mold exposure symptoms
On the October 28 episode of her Jenny McCarthy Wahlberg Show podcast, McCarthy told listeners her ordeal began with something as ordinary as a toothache. “OK, I have been dying to tell you this story, because the last two years of my life have been absolutely fricking insane. Insane, OK?” she said. “Some of you guys already know that I’ve been dealing with mold and mycotoxin poisoning.”
What followed was “a rabbit hole of doctors, surgeries, teeth being pulled, mysterious growths popping up in places you are not expecting, implants literally falling out and eventually realizing my immune system was fighting something so much bigger.” Swollen bumps appeared on her eyelid—doctors briefly worried they might be cancer. She joked that it felt like “25,500” surgeries, calling her ongoing ordeal with mold exposure symptoms “a Shakespearean play.”
Why McCarthy is now undergoing a ‘mold detox’
It wasn’t until McCarthy was “going through medical fatigue” that one doctor finally tested her for mold. The results stopped her cold. “Jenny, you’ve got serious mold. You’ve got the type of mold that causes seizures. If this thing crosses the blood-brain barrier, I’m going to be talking to you in hospital. You’re going to start seizing,” she recalled her doctor warning her.
McCarthy, who is married to actor Donnie Wahlberg, 57, is now well into her mold detox—and so cautious about re-exposure that she moved outdoors. “I’m still in my mold detox, you guys. I’m still in it, like, I’m knee-deep in it,” she said. “I’m in month seven of detox and I’m too paranoid to honestly live anywhere else other than a tent.”
Mold exposure symptoms are more common than you think
McCarthy’s story may sound extreme, but experts say household mold is a hidden factor behind many health struggles.
“The mold problem is a hidden driver of women’s chronic illness,” says Bryn Kanuk, a doctor of acupuncture and founder of Austin Transformational Health. “As an integrative physician, I often meet women who are told their symptoms are unrelated, or worse, ‘just stress.’ But when you zoom out and connect the dots—fatigue, brain fog, gut issues, skin flares, lightheadedness—a different picture emerges.”
Tufts University research shows even low levels of mycotoxins in the home can trigger toxicity that seriously impairs health. Common mold exposure symptoms to watch for include:
- Foggy thinking and mood swings
- Headaches, vision changes and dizziness
- Chronic fatigue
- Joint or muscle pain and weakness
- Nasal stuffiness, asthma symptoms or shortness of breath
- Digestive changes
- Itchy skin or allergic reactions
- Unexplained weight gain
- Sleep complaints
Because the symptoms of mold exposure vary so widely, Neil Nathan, MD, author of TOXIC, recommends a urine test to confirm mycotoxins. Tania Dempsey, MD, who treats mold patients and recovered from mold exposure herself, cautions that healing takes time. “Different molds can produce different amounts of toxins and affect people in different ways, making it tricky to treat,” she says. “There isn’t a one-size-fits-all remedy. I take a comprehensive, layered approach.”
One woman’s journey overcoming mold exposure
Jenna Leveille, 54, understands exactly what McCarthy is going through. In 2014, she was in the best shape of her life after losing 140 pounds. But by 2021, something had gone very wrong.
She began reacting to foods she’d always tolerated. On one flight, after eating walnuts, “my face broke out in burning hives. It felt like someone was pressing a hot frying pan against my skin. My eyes swelled and darkened with circles, almost like a raccoon. It was terrifying,” she recalls.
Weight gain, digestive problems and exhaustion followed. “I had to carry an EpiPen everywhere just in case.” Her doctor eventually admitted, “We’ll likely never be able to figure out what’s causing this.”
The test that changed everything
A functional medicine doctor ran tests for six months with no answers. Finally, Jenna asked to test for mold. Her urine mycotoxin results came back “completely off the charts.” The culprit? A refrigerator ice maker that had leaked six years earlier, allowing mold to spread behind her kitchen cabinets, inside a wall and in the crawl space of her Colorado home.
Her recovery involved professional remediation of her home, a prescription binder medication that latches onto toxins, a low-histamine anti-inflammatory diet, intermittent fasting and supplements including probiotics, collagen, fish oil and vitamins C and D.
Her latest mold report showed an 80 percent improvement. “I want people who are in the middle of it to know there is real hope for true healing,” she says. “It worked for me!”
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