Mini-Pod: Finding Resilience When Your Brain Betrays You

The Science of Adapting to Sudden Loss

Stellan Skarsgård can no longer memorize his lines.

The Swedish actor suffered a stroke in 2022. Now he stumbles over names, loses his train of thought, and can’t make an argument that spans several sentences. For a Golden Globe and BAFTA award winner, known for inhabiting dozens of complex characters on film, this is devastating.

“I’m not afraid of dying, but I am afraid of not being capable of living,” he told The Guardian (Rose, 2025).