Shaquille Ali-Yebuah, who plays Officer Sebastien (Seb) Rose in the BBC One series Death In Paradise, has opened up about a difficult year that included multiple surgeries and personal loss.
The 31-year-old actor, whose previous credits include working alongside Thandie Newton on a Star Wars movie and Cristiano Ronaldo in a Nike YouTube FIFA World Cup ad, revealed he had been suffering from chest pains before discovering he had a collapsed lung.
Three surgeries in four weeks
Shaquille was hospitalised in Los Angeles and unable to fly out for filming. He shared the experience with fans on social media, posting photos of himself in a hospital gown hooked up to an IV and in a hospital bed surrounded by nursing staff. He also shared a video of him lying on a gurney as a nurse steered him down a corridor.
Speaking of his ordeal, he said: "It's been a wild month – a short trip to LA turned into four weeks of survival. I went [to] hospital for chest pain, turns out I was walking around with a collapsed lung for five days."
He continued: "Doctors [did] surgery, fixed it, said I couldn't leave LA until I got the all clear to fly. I recovered for two weeks thinking I'd be back to shooting soon – only for the X-rays to show on my follow-up appointment that my lung collapsed again! Spontaneous pneumothorax, back to back."
Shaquille was admitted to Beverly Hills Cedars Sinai hospital, where he thanked the medical team. He added: "Three surgeries in four weeks… hated needles, now I'm getting injected two times a day for blood, a fear becomes a daily routine."
Family tragedy while in hospital
The actor explained that the first surgeries weren't successful, and he underwent a third operation. He said: "The main doctor at the first hospital and overseer of my first surgery turned out to be a huge fan of DIP, what are the odds!"
He added: "We give thanks man, we don't dwell, it's all a part of the journey. The thing is, you can't prevent a spontaneous pneumothorax, so to have it back to back maybe God made me be still because I spent my whole life moving – chasing the next dream, the next flight, the next version of me."
Sadly, Shaquille received devastating news while in hospital and explained his cousin who lived in Jamaica had been killed. He said: "Right before they wheeled me into surgery, I got news my cousin got killed by police back home in Jamaica."
He elaborated: "Imagine trying to process a death while somebody's asking you to sign papers in case YOU don't wake up. I wake up from surgery, body cut up full of tubes, grateful I made it – just to hear my other lil cousin got locked up."
Previous loss and return to acting
Shaquille also suffered another heartbreaking death when his brother Zion died suddenly in 2020. At the time, he said: "My younger brother is no longer with us. He was 20 when he died and it would have been his 23rd birthday last week. (8th Feb). His death left us all devastated and I took a break from acting."
At the height of his grief, Shaquille, also a musician, decided to record a song, Long Live Zi, as a tribute to his brother. He released it online, saying: "I got a lot of people messaging me saying how it helped them get through the hard times of losing a family relative too. We wanted to do it as a nice tribute celebrating his life."
Shaquille, who studied at the Identity School of Acting in London, recalls auditioning for the role of Sebastian shortly after telling his agent he was ready to go back to work in 2024. Death In Paradise presented itself as the perfect opportunity for the actor's career.
