In case you missed it, Martin Lawrence’s appearance at the 2024 Emmy Awards earlier this year sparked serious concern among the public about his health. He seemed to slur his words while attempting to give a speech. And so the public has expressed concerned about the actors health.
So we’re going to get into what’s really going on with Martin Lawrence. And we’re going to talk about what happened between Martin Lawrence and Lark Voorhies when they were engaged.
Nicki Swift reports,
The “Martin” TV sitcom, which aired from 1992 to 1997, is a significant part of American television history, particularly in the representation of African American culture. It was pivotal in showcasing African American life and experiences with a blend of humor and relatability. The series introduced memorable characters and catchphrases that became iconic and are still remembered today. And the show was a breakthrough for comedian Martin Lawrence, who starred in the title role. His unique style of humor and ability to play multiple characters won critical acclaim and contributed to his rise in the entertainment industry.
The overall success of Martin demonstrated that shows centered on black experiences could achieve mainstream popularity, which paved the way for more diverse representation on television. While primarily a comedy, “Martin” occasionally addressed social and cultural issues relevant to the African American community, integrating important conversations into its narrative.
But the show never won an Emmy despite its success and as a matter of fact, it was never even nominated. But this year the Emmy’s decided to pay tribute to the iconic show.
Martin Lawrence reunited with his former Martin costars Tisha Campbell, Carl Anthony Payne, and Tichina Arnold at the Emmy Awards, appearing in a replica of the sitcom’s living room set at the Peacock Theatre in Los Angeles to present the nominees for Lead Actor in a Comedy Series.
During the segment, the actors were situated in a set recreation resembling the living room from their iconic show. And in the skit, Carl Payne pretended to believe they were finally receiving an Emmy, even going so far as to prepare a speech. Tisha Campbell, however, had to correct him, pointing out that they were there to present an award, not to receive one.
Near the end of the skit, Martin Lawrence broke out of character and transitioned into presenting Jeremy Allen White with the award for lead actor In a comedy series.
Martin started through his statement saying, ”I’m just excited to be here on the Emmy stage with the tremendous cast of the ‘Martin’ show”.
Unfortunately, the comic then started to slur his words. Although Martin ultimately was able to introduce the nominees for the category, he took a couple of long pauses and appeared to have trouble reading from the teleprompter at times.
So, fans voiced their concerns about Martin Lawrence and his overall well-being on social media.
One fan tweeted, ”Anybody else think sumn goin on with Martin Lawrence? He under the influence or got sumn goin?”
Another fan tweeted,
“Can’t be the only one concerned about Martin Lawrence. what’s wrong, Marty-Mar?!”
Another fan complimented the “Martin” cast’s appearance, then posted a well-wish for Lawrence. “They all look amazing. Hope everything is ok with Martin. Forever one of the greatest comedy casts of all time.”
Several fans also theorized that Lawrence’s slurring was evidence that he may have had a stroke, though there have been no confirmed reports one way or another.
One fan wrote, “Did Martin Lawrence have a stroke just now?”
A second fan tweeted, “Is Martin Lawrence having a stroke live on stage? Am i the only one seeing this?”
Martin Lawrence has faced a few health issues over the years. Most notably, in 1999, he suffered a significant health scare when he collapsed from heat exhaustion while jogging in extremely hot weather in preparation for a movie role. This incident led to him falling into a coma for three days and being hospitalized with a body temperature of 107 degrees Fahrenheit, which caused acute respiratory failure and subsequent hospitalization in the intensive care unit.
Additionally, Martin has dealt with hypertension, a condition common in many individuals, which requires careful management to prevent further health complications.
Being that so many people were concerned about Martin’s health after seeing him slurring his words at the Emmy’s, sources close to Martin reached out to TMZ and addressed the concerns about his health.
TMZ reported,
Martin Lawrence’s appearance at the Emmys this week got some folks a little worried he might be worse for wear — but the guy’s actually never been better, and there’s a perfectly good explanation for what people misperceived.
Some fans started speculating something was up with the actor/comedian after he and his “Martin” costars — Tisha Campbell, Tichina Arnold and Carl Anthony Payne II — had a reunion at the 75th Emmys on Monday, and Lawrence seemed to slur his words during the bit.
However, sources with direct knowledge tell TMZ … Martin Lawrence’s totally fine — in fact, we’re told he just recently finished filming the latest “Bad Boys.” Not just that, but our sources say he’s also hitting the road this summer for his latest comedy tour. In other words, he’s in tip-top shape.
Even though some thought he may have been slurring his words and taking long pauses during the Emmys Martin reunion, this was actually because of a technical glitch with the teleprompter caused by late changes to the script!
So, according to sources close to Martin, he wasn’t actually slurring, he was just taking long pauses because the teleprompter was glitching. So he is fine, allegedly.
Martin Lawrence and Lark Voorhies
Towards the end of 1992, Lark Voorhies became part of the cast of “Martin” for one season. And according to reports, this was around the time that she and Martin Lawrence were dating.
In the Martin episodes featuring Lark Voorhies, which appear to have been filmed in 1992 and aired in 1993, Martin and Gina fight over Gina’s unusual Valentine’s Day gift, and the fight escalates out of control until they finally break up. When they try and reconcile, they discover that maybe they are just too different from each other. So they both start dating new people, with Martin dating Lark Voorhies character. But in the end, Martin and Lark’s character realize that they both are still in love with their former lovers, and break up.
But in real life, apparently Martin Lawrence and Lark Voorhies were in a serious relationship that had evolved into an engagement. Martin Lawrence asked Lark Voorhies to marry him in 1993, the same year that Saved By The Bell ended.
However, their engagement was short-lived, and ended in 1994. And it ended in a very public and almost malicious way.
Martin appeared on the Arsenio Hall Show in 1994, and publicly announced his intention to marry someone else without even telling Lark Voorhies, according to reports. He ended his engagement to Lark Voorhies by announcing his engagement to Patricia Southhall.
This public and abrupt end to their relationship reportedly had a significant impact on Lark Voorhies’ mental health and she went on to have several traumatic relationships according to her therapist who appeared with her on Dr Oz in 2020.
In that interview Lark revealed that she has Schizo Affective Thought Disorder. Schizoaffective disorder is a chronic mental health condition characterized by symptoms of schizophrenia, such as hallucinations or delusions, and mood disorder symptoms, like depression or mania.
Schizoaffective disorder can impact speech in various ways. One of the symptoms of this disorder is impaired communication and speech, which might manifest as being incoherent. This means that individuals with schizoaffective disorder may have difficulty expressing their thoughts clearly, leading to speech that is hard to understand or follow.
And in that interview Lark Voorhies’ speech was impaired and she described how her thoughts race. But when she described her thoughts racing in her mind, she actually referred to herself as Lisa instead of Lark, which just shows how the disorder is affecting her.
When asked if the pressure of being a teen star could have contributed to the onset of Lark’s disease, her therapist responded that in Lark’s case it was more than the pressure of being a teen star.
She said “I think there was more in Lark’s case just in terms of the stressors that were to follow after and relationship stressors. She had more stress on her in addition to the stress of the show that was happening in her personal life and I think altogether it was weighing down on her.”
Lark Voorhies seemed to be doing well after accepting her diagnosis and getting treatment for it. She appeared on the Saved By The Bell revival in a brief cameo. And she appeared to be cautiously stepping back into the limelight by doing fan meet and greets and attending ComicCon before the pandemic.
Other than that, it appears Lark Voorhies has returned to living a very private life and focusing on herself.
