Keke Palmer has revealed her vision has been impaired after sun gazing at Joshua Tree national park in California.
The actor, who stars in director Jordan Peele’s third feature film Nope, explained the incident during a video interview with Wired when asked if she wears glasses.
“I wear glasses, and now I’ve been walking around lately wearing two [pairs of] glasses,” Palmer said.
“For all my spiritual heads out there that’s always looking for a different meditation vibe, don’t ever do the sun gazing, honey. I did sun gazing in Joshua Tree and I sunburned my retina playing around trying to be Gandhi and shit!”
She added: “So be careful with that sun, the UVs, the global warming. You gotta protect those eyes because now I’m seeing double and stuff. My astigmatism is going left. The doctor said he can’t even promise me it’ll heal. So I’ve just been praying, because damn.
“My eyes have been bad since I was eight and everybody in my family wears glasses. Hopefully I didn’t do too much to mess it up. Pray for me.”
Sun gazing is a method of meditation where participants look directly at the sun during specific hours of the day – often at sunrise and sunset – in an effort to benefit their well-being.
Medical experts, however, have widely discouraged sun gazing due to the risk of permanent eye damage. According to the American Academy of Ophthalmology, too much exposure to UV light can cause eye cancer, cataracts or growths on the eye.
In Nope, Palmer stars alongside Daniel Kaluuya (Get Out), Steven Yeun (The Walking Dead) and Brandon Perea (The OA). The film is released in cinemas on July 22.
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