Watch: Christy Carlson Romano Shares Why She Could Never “Fully Be There” for Onscreen Brother Shia LaBeouf
Christy Carlson Romano is still recovering from a near-fatal accident.
More than a year after the Disney Channel alum was hospitalized following an incident in which she was shot in the face, she shared that her injuries still affect her today.
“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,” Romano told Fox News in an interview published Oct. 24. “I still have birdshot behind my eye about a millimeter away from anything critical. And if it were to move, I would go blind. So, we’re hoping that doesn’t happen.”
Romano was hit with birdshot, a type of shotgun ammunition made of small pellets, during her husband Brendan Rooney‘s 42nd birthday celebration in February 2025, where they went out with some friends to shoot clay pigeons.
During the excursion, Romano—mom to daughters Isabella, 9, and Sophia, 7, with Rooney—was shot multiple times in the face.
“It just so happened to hit the right fat pocket right under the eye,” she recalled. “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.”
But as she was recovering from the painful accident, it was the 42-year-old’s daughters that inspired her to keep fighting.
Instagram/Christy Carlson Romano
“I, at one point, thought that I was going to die,” Romano shared. ” And when you have children, you can’t help but start to see the world completely differently after an accident like that.”
At the time of the incident, the Even Stevens alum shared deeper insight into what occurred on the trip.
“I took him to shoot clay pigeons as a present,” she wrote on Instagram in February 2025 alongside a video of herself with injuries to her right eye and forehead. “There was another party with us and they unsafely fired in the wrong direction and shot me in the face.”
Romano said her husband “immediately sprung into action,” assessed her before rushing her to a nearby hospital.
Photo by Andrew Toth/Getty Images
“I was hit in 5 places, one was less than an inch from hitting me directly in my right eye,” she continued. “Unfortunately a fragment got lodged behind my eye and it is too risky to remove surgically at this time. Doctors will continue to monitor me (I can see normally at the moment).”
And as she took time to recover from what could have been a life-threatening situation, Romano shared that she’s gained a whole new appreciation for the life she leads.
“I love my daughters, husband, family, and friends so much,” she said. “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.”
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