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Nargis Fakhri's sudden departure from India had the rumour mills churning lots of gossip, from a breakup with Uday Chopra to a nervous breakdown.

But it turns out the real reason was of a life-threatening nature!

Nargis had arsenic and lead poisoning, reveals Indian Express, and had to rush back to the US for treatment.

“When I came here, I had arsenic and lead poisoning and no one knew what was wrong with me. It can happen in many ways — it could be in the water, food, rusted lead pipes in an old building… The doctor tested me, but he was so scared because it was at a very high level and I asked him ‘What do I do?’"

"Then I cured myself. Ayurveda is based on naturopathy, herbs basically but it was a combination of different things that I researched and six months later I got the test done again and there was nothing! The doctor was like ‘Oh, my God! How did you do this?’ And I said I will tell you when I see you.”

Turns out Ayurveda treatment is a family favourite. Indian Express reports that Nargis’s mother had also recovered from cancer with the help of Ayurveda. "The doctors wanted to cut her uterus, but she took herbs and within six months the fibroids were gone," say reports.