Alicia Silverstone, an actress recognized for her leading role in the 1995 coming-of-age comedy film “Clueless,” has reassured her fans that she is in good health after appearing to eat a possibly toxic fruit earlier this week.
Silverstone, 47, alarmed her followers on Monday after uploading a video of herself chewing on an unidentified fruit while strolling through the streets of England.
“I just bit into this because it was on the street, and we were discussing whether this was a tomato or not. It’s definitely not because look at these leaves,” she continues.
“When you open it up, it looks like that, and if I bite it—I don’t think you’re supposed to eat this, but it’s almost like a pepper. Does anyone know what this is? I don’t know what this is. I need someone to tell me.”
Silverstone’s fans were quick to chime in via the comment section, with one user writing: “ALICIA! Stop eating mystery veggies out of someone else’s street garden!” Another quipped: “Safe to say you were clueless as to what it was?”
Many other Instagram users offered their opinions on what the mysterious fruit could be, with some agreeing that it appeared to be a species of pepper. “This looks like a cherry bomb pepper plant. It is indeed a pepper,” one of Silverstone’s followers wrote. “Looks like a chilli/pepper,” commented another.
However, others posited that it looked like a Jerusalem cherry. “It’s an ornamental so don’t eat anymore,” one user wrote.
Kap Wallingford, the owner and president of the online floral boutique Calyx Flowers, told The Epoch Times that the plant was a Jerusalem cherry.
“That is one very pretty, as well as tempting toxic Jerusalem Cherry, a Nightshade fruit (reminds me of Snow White),” Wallingford said via email. “I hope Ms. Silverstone is feeling much better today.”
The plant is indigenous to Bolivia, Brazil, and the southern parts of South America and thrives in warmer subtropical or tropical climates. It can also be found in certain regions of the United States, Europe, Asia, and Australia.
The Raleigh, North Carolina-based school indicates that the plant, which features white flowers in the summer and berry-like fruits in shades of red, yellow, or orange in the fall and winter, is highly poisonous if ingested.
Eating any part of the perennial evergreen shrub—including its fruit, leaves, flowers, and roots—may result in a number of health issues, such as allergic skin reactions, nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain, diarrhea, stomach ulcers, and seizures, among others.
After making her film debut in the 1993 thriller “The Crush,” Silverstone went on to star in a slew of films in 1995, including “Hideaway,” “Clueless,” “The Babysitter,” and “True Crime.” Two years later, the actress starred in “Batman & Robin,” playing Batgirl opposite George Clooney as Batman.
In 2023, Silverstone appeared in “Perpetrator.” She also starred in the crime thriller “Reptile,” alongside actors Benicio del Toro and Michael Pitt and singer Justin Timberlake.
