On Easter, Tori Spelling reportedly fell into a hibachi grill at Benihana, and it was the weirdest story. I mean, it sounds terribly painful, but the logistics were so messed up. Tori reportedly caught her heel on something and “fell backwards” into the grill, which is a really hard thing to do. They’re not exactly yawning, cavernous pits, after all. This would have been a freak accident. But Tori, who was seen staring at one of her arms in front of the paps, went straight to the hospital for skin grafts, so she wouldn’t end up with scarring.
Tori started talking about the accident about a week later after no one picked up on the story. It feels terrible to question the details, but she’s been hospitalized so many times in only a few years. Not only that, but she enjoys Instagramming hospital selfies that are emblazoned with “True Tori.”
Anyway, all of the photos in this post are from June, and there’s no way to see the back of Tori’s arms. This week’s issue of the Enquirer says Tori is worried that her burns won’t heal, and she’ll need an amputation (?). TMZ does have a few photos of Tori’s reddened skin, and now she’s supposedly suing the pants off Benihana:
Tori Spelling wants to torch Benihana in court after getting burned so badly in one of the restaurants, she was hospitalized … according to a new lawsuit.
Spelling says she was at a Benihana in Encino, CA in April when she slipped and fell … receiving, “deep second and third degree burn injuries.” She reportedly fell onto one of the hibachi grills.
In the lawsuit Spelling says she racked up medical expenses, “general damage” and wage loss … although there’s no mention of where she was employed. She’s suing the Benihana corporation — not just the Encino location.
[From TMZ]
Oh, TMZ. The “wage loss” detail is a little cruel to mention but so true. Tori and Dean have almost no income and still blow through $594k per year. I don’t see how she’d be successful in suing the whole corporation because it’s not like people are falling into hibachi grills every day. If they were a true hazard, this would happen a lot, but it doesn’t. Maybe she could have sued one location for negligence, but it sounds like she’s going for the big damages.
Photos courtesy of WENN
Saw this coming like a freight train down the tracks. I still don’t get how she managed to fall on the grill.
Hope they don’t FALL for this. If you’re going to wear spiky heels – and possibly drink, and possibly walk on the wrong side of a hot grill – how can you blame the restaurant? I’m sure she will get $$$ however.
Plus – AMPUTATION? Go visit a patient with TRU problems, Tori! What a jerk.
That made me laugh so hard. There’s no way they’d amputate her arm for that. If her burns were really that serious and weren’t healing, she’d be in the hospital, getting antibiotics and debridements and skin grafts and all that jazz.
This is the equivalent of her slipping and falling at Walmart and suing the pants off of them.
If there was an infection from the wounds not healing it could result in an amputation. There’s so many preventions though… Ugh. She’s a hypochondriac.
I am starting to think she may have a pain pill problem with all the strange hospital visits for vague illnesses. I am also baffled how she fell on the grill.
Also third degree burns are basically to the bone right? so very painful with long hospital stays.
I’ve wondered that myself. So many hospitalizations and then she’s running around fine a few days later.
Zapp
A 3rd degree burn is a burn through all layers of skin. It’s damaage can extend to organs, bone, bloodstream, tendons, etc…
People often assume it’s incredibly painful, and it is, but it’s common your nerves have been burned off or damaged resulting in less pain overall. The damage on the outside of the burn would be the highest level of pain with those nerve endings still intact to send signals.
And swelling can prevent a lot of sensation from compression on the nerves. With that level of damage and infection you’ll likely have swelling. It’s your friend.
I haven’t seen Tori’s burns, but I have seen hibachi burns and they’re usually severe 2nd degree. The body has a strong reflex to remove yourself from the damage. My 1st thought was if she got 3rd degree was she on a medication that slowed her motor skills?
EDIT
Saw the scar. It looks like 1st to me. Her skin is smooth and just dicolored. I’m not seeing where it could have blistered (2nd degree) or the characteristics of a 3rd with more rippled texture.
My Aunt has a big drinking problem and keeps tripping and falling and breaking bones. It makes me think something similar, some substance abuse issue is going on with tori.
There was a moment in the last finale of True Tori where Dean opened a kitchen cabinet, exposing several prescription pill bottles. He said something about ‘this being the problem’ (something like that). Dean DEFINITELY alluded to Tori having a pill problem.
Ahhhh! What in the name of Benihana is she wearing in the pics with her family/husband?!!!
Hahaha.
Looks very junior high
That entire family looks so unhappy.
Meh. They look like any family that’s been dragged to a special event and told not to dirty their nice clothes and to behave themselves.
But, yeah, they might be a lot more happy of someone just offered them oodles of money. Who wouldnt smile more for that? Lol.
I totally agree. Tori doesn’t know what to do with herself. Bored in one marriage, jump into another, have kid after kid because you don’t know what else to do with yourself for attention and drama and now- years of marriage and not having any more kids- you start exploiting the marriage and kids for attention. How do you fall into a grill? She is looking for money and attention, and I feel so horrible for those poor kids.
Never thought I’d say this but I do feel sorry for Dean sometimes. “I’m SIIIIICK….I’m in HOSPIIITALLLL…NO ONE LOVES ME…..I’M THE BREAD WINNER…I HAVE ALLL THE RESPONSIBILITY…” I’d be having affairs too. Can you imagine being married to her? Yes he’s an underemployed douche, but they have A LOT of kids, she is always sick, tired, head-achey, in hospital, on pills or gallivanting off somewhere. I arge that it would be hard for him to have any kind of career that took time and attention away from her.
That’s a pathetic way to try & get $. If she had 3rd degree burns it would have been properly reported at the time of the accident.
Agreed. I find it very suspicious this is happening after quite a bit of time has lapsed!!
This.
3rd degree burns are serious buggers that end up damaging all the layers of the skin. I’m sure what happened to her wasn’t pleasant, but 3rd degree likely would’ve landed her in hospital for a longer period of time. And if she did, you can bet she’d be telling everyone about all the shots she’d be having and how’s she’s got to be super careful about it.
I don’t think someone would wait a day to visit their doctor, then go to the hospital.
I suspect she will get a settlement, but my hope is that the company will fight it. Bring up the timeline of treatment and witnesses other than the one who seemed full of little supportive comments to the media.
Yes, for someone who constantly goes to the hospital, the one time it’s allegedly needed, she waits? Odd.
She waited a day?!
I have to think if she injured herself as badly as she claims, or even at all, the restaurant management would have insisted she get medical attention right away, just for their own liability.
I still can’t figure out how one would even reach the grill falling against it – isn’t there a good amount of bar/table between the walkways and the grill surface? And I’d be curious to know if there’s security cameras in the restaurant.
I bet she’s hoping for a quick settlement to just make some cash.
No clue how she managed to trip and even reach the grill. Even sitting there on your stool and reaching arms out you can’t touch the grill past your fingers. Nothing about her story adds up.
And Tori the sneeze sends her to the hospital doesn’t go with 3rd degree burns? Only goes to get sg’s to prevent scaring? To say i’m suspicious is an understatement..
Maybe it takes a day to get the alcohol and whatever else out of your system just in case the hospital takes a blood test?
anne_000
If you have severe burns. Even a bad 1st degree burn. You get immediate care. And before giving any medication Doctors might want to know what you have in your system that might conflict with what they want to give you. Waiting a day in that situation makes little sense to me. If this was a 3rd degree burn she wouldn’t be in the frame of thought to consider waiting until something got flushed out. That’s like looking at a bone sticking out of your arm and thinking after a night’s sleep you’ll see a doctor.
Exactly. On the way out of the restaurant, she probably high-fived Dean, said “Honey, this means MONEY!”, and called her lawyer via speed-dial. Does she truly not realize how sad she is?
Exactly. If she had third degree burns, she’s be in the hospital, and at one with a burn center none the less. If her wounds weren’t healing months down the road she’d be getting debridements, antibiotics, etc etc etc She wouldn’t be wandering around for the paparazzi to take pictures of. Pathetic attempt at a cash grab.
This has shades of finding a finger in a bowl of Wendy’s chili to me. I haven’t been in a Benehana but aren’t the grills located behind a table with bar stool chairs for the customers to sit around to watch the chef cook? So how did she manage to fall not on people and the chairs and directly hit the grill?
They’re unemployed and desperate for money. I wouldn’t put it past them to pull that stunt. It will be interesting what Benehana Corp will do. They can fight it to the bittter end or pay her off.
Oh that pic of Dean and Tori is horrendous.
will the jury take into consideration that she was drunk at the time?
Not to mention” medications”.
$600k for a family of six in L.A. isn’t even close to the life she grew up in. Seems so stressful to have to hustle constantly to stay afloat. I hope the kids are being encouraged to pursue careers beyond reality tv.
ETA: Private school for three kids is one of their lowest expenses? Are the kids on need based scholarships or something?
No Tori mother pays for the kids schooling.
I actually knew that from another thread but 37k is such a bizarre number for three kids. If mom is paying tuition, does that number represent their contribution for books, uniforms, field trips, and lunches? If so,each kid’s schooling costs $12k on top of tuition. Which is plausible for an LA private school.
@bettyrose – maybe the school discounts for more than one child – so the weird number. I doubt that they have to buy books in an elementary school – could be wrong.
Sounds like a Simpson’s episode.
Or Married With Children.
As a plaintiff she’ll open herself open to ?s like had she been drinking or on any medication and were the shoes she was wearing a contributing factor and what actual employment was lost .I think she should settle for medical costs.
I guess when you have no income/no work you have to get money from somewhere right? Please…..if she fell it had to have been somewhat her fault (I seem to remember reading she might have been drunk at that time?). I have been to Benihani and to “fall” into one of those hibachi grills is quite the feat. UGH! Is it too much for her or her husband to just get legitimate work and stop trying to take an easy way out by suing this restaurant????
Maybe she was standing on the bar stool & fell? Only way I can figure she could get her arm to the grill.
She is starting to remind me of LeaAnn Rimes. Desperate and thirsty.
There are similarities. However, the latter seems to be working more, with no reported additional lawsuits. Maybe the lawsuit route didn’t prove too lucrative.
Can you say ‘desperate’?
What annoys me is that Benihana will likely now take “protective measures” because of one drunk person who fell on a grill, likely ruining the hibachi experience for everyone.
That’s what I’m thinking. Hibachi is super fun.
I’m sorry, but this is hilarious! Not meaning any (real) injuries, but her shamelessness and ridiculousness is just beyond!! Link back to her previous hospital selfies, the one with the mask gives me major second hand embarrassment. I watched some clips of 90210 on you tube recently, and she was the absolute WORST actress I have ever seen. It’s a bit sad to see this kind of desperation.
Unbelievable!
Oh, wait….it’s Tori Spelling.
Never mind.
somewhere her ex husband is thanking the universe he dodged a bullet.
She and Dean must be really low on cash.
Grifters gonna grift…
If she stops messing with her face, iT could solve a bit of THE money problems, mi thinks.
Goodness, her face, is just to much.
Oh, brother.
+1
With parents like hers she’s never stood a chance in hell. What a miserable existence. I hope she and Dean manage to raise their kids better than they were.
Her brother seems fine so you can’t blame the parents.
Why is it always the parents’ fault? Yes, she may have had shitty parents but at some point she needs to grow up and take responsibility for her choices. Spending money you don’t have is one of those things you need to control.
Benihana should sue her for choreographing and orchestrating a fall in order to get P.R. that she can’t get any other way because no one gives a rat’s a$$ about her. Sick and tired of her make-money antics.
Just go away.
I so agree with you
Yeah, sounds like they realized the TV gravy train has left the station and this was their only idea for new income.
Dean wasn’t always rich, right? He knows how to do real work, right? I know Tori is basically a moneyed invalid, but what’s his excuse?
Dean is kinda working. I saw him hosting “Chopped Canada” this summer. Can’t imagine it pays enough to sustain their lifestyle, but I guess it’s something.
Dean got himself fired from Chopped Canada for being a creeper on set.
Fired?! Why is that not surprising?
This is why you don’t hitch yourself to the wild feelings someone can induce in you, because once they end, you’re stuck with what situation it produced (tattoos, kids, destroyed marriages, etc). Dean is a damn fool.
Nothing says “I’m stable” like a good old fashioned frivolous lawsuit.
At the TMZ link, there are photos of Tori’s bracelet on top of her burn mark. Would that be possible if it was a 3rd degree burn?
Her burn mark is on her forearm. Does that mean that she fell backwards over the counter with her arm stretched out and somehow her hand wasn’t burned either?
Am I the only one who believes she fell and it was a horrible accident? I could see this happening. I totally understand waiting to go to hospital thinking it will be fine then later realizing how serious it is. I mean she is a real piece of work but I feel bad this happened to her. I find it hard to believe no one else has ever been burned there. I’d sue too.
While I believe she fell accidentally, I’ve seen the pictures of her burn marks and there’s no way these are 3rd degree burns! So regardless of what happened, she is definitely exaggerating, at the very least.
If her injuries even came from Benihana and wher not self inflicted.
Hey Tori! Guess what? It is possible to be married and have kids (we had 2) and NOT live in the limelight and still have relatively comfortable life on 29 thou a year. It’s called a budget. Look it up! My kids had the necessities and love, and are amazing adults now. Money does NOT = happy or successful. Sorry if I don’t boo-hoo for you. And OH! I also know what 3rd degree burns are! I lost 1/4 of my lips due to an electrical burn when I was 3 years old (long story) so spare me your “injury” woes.. kthnxbye.
Exactly!!! There are those of us who work for a living (don’t create stupid reality shows and sue others for money), live on a budget and turn out just FINE!! I am proud to be a single working mother teaching my daughter that a woman can take care of herself and her family and not needs loads of money to do that!! We live very comfortably on what I make and what I get in child’s support. No lawsuits needed! AMEN Vampi 🙂
You GO girl!!! *hugs*
Tori and LeAnn Rimes ought to pitch a reality show called “Desperate Fameho’s!” They could have guest stars like Kylie Jenner, Nanny Isuzu, Tila Tequila, Jessa Duggar, and hmmmmm….who else? Anyone got any ideas? You KNOW TLC or somesuch network would JUMP at this…..
That is truly brilliant!!! In fact sign up all the Kardashians for that one 🙂 The sad truth is though LeAnn is (was) an amazing singer with a great voice…too bad she threw it all away and became what she is today. But the rest of them (pretty much all the people who star regularly on reality TV) are talent-less! I like to look up to people that have something to bring to the table (acting, dancing, singing, etc.)….not famewhores who will sell out their own flesh/blood for money.
I’m just really trying to figure out how one can fall backwards after getting your heel stuck. It’s happened to me, and I always fall FORWARD. Her suit makes it sound like she fell straight back or at least sort of turned. If she fell forward, most of the damage would be to her hands, since humans naturally throw our hands out to break falls. I’ve never done personal injury but have worked in close proximity to lawyers who do and one of the most obvious signs of falls are damage to the fingers, wrists, shoulders and hands because those are the areas that generally take impacts. I’m not trying to say she’s making it up, because weirder stuff has happened. But the logistics of what she’s claiming is weird to me.
You always fall foward?
Sue THE shoe company, damn Them…
You generally go forward because the show gets caught while you’re walking. A skinny heel is really easy to get stuck in a crack in a sidewalk or something like that. But if you’re already walking, you’re going to pitch forward when you get stuck (or just walk out of the shoe, which I’ve done a time or two as well). I also find it interesting that she’s suing for burns, but not for soft tissue injuries, which are super common in falls (especially to the wrists, shoulders, etc. – you know, the places that are likely to take most of the impact of the fall). I’d be more inclined to believe that she maybe had a few and tried to wobble out on high heels and just couldn’t keep her balance and fell. I’d believe that, but I’m struggling with this whole “my heel got stuck and I fell straight back” thing.
I just tried to re-enact the fall. (Don’t worry, there’s only a keyboard in front of me, no grill.)
It does make physical/logistic sense if it happened while trying to standing up from a chair/stool and turn. You just have to picture “fell backwards” as meaning “slipped back towards the chair” rather than “fell directly backwards like she’d been poleaxed”.
Imagine the following: Put your palms down on the table in front of you to help you push up from the chair. Start to simultaneously stand and turn to your left. Imagine your right foot catches as you push up. Your ankle twists and you fall back towards the chair (because your weight was on the back foot). More importantly, your right arm slides out along the table as you fall. Your right palm twists upwards – it’s your forearm that slides along the table, not your hand. (That explains why her palms aren’t burnt even though people normally get their hands out to break a fall.) Now your forearm is on the grill and you can’t flinch back because you’re totally off balance. (That explains how you’d get 2nd or maybe 3rd degree burns instead of 1st degree.)
I have no idea if that’s what actually happened, but it’s a scenario that makes sense. The other plausible scenario is that she was too drunk/drugged to have normal reactions/reaction-time (see Zac Effron’s broken jaw.)
Agree. Nothing adds up with her sstory and interior shots of the restaurants Encino location. This lady… She needs help.
She forgot to add “plastic fillers melted by heat of grill” to her list of damages. Oh, wait. That’s just how her face looks..?
hahahahahaha!
How can she sue the restaurant for an accident due to her own clumsiness? It’s not like one of the staff PUSHED her onto the grill. And how did she hit the grill anyway? Did she climb up on a chair before she “fell”?
People have sued after falling over “wet floor” warning signs. Someone sued a theme park because their haunted house was too scary and she had nightmares.
Suing the business where you tripped over is tame. Happens all the time.
I worked in for a large supermarket chain when I was young, and we didn’t just have the standard “secret shopper” to check customer service levels. We had a “secret fake falling over lady” who’d come in, fake a fall, and report to head-office on how you handled the incident. I failed the test badly. No-one had ever warned me we had this, and when it happened a random customer had seen official-falling-over-lady take a grape off the shelf, and crush it on the floor as part of her act. The random customer told me, and I told the falling-over-lady that she’d been spotted planting fake evidence. Apparently you’re not supposed to do that.
This gave me a huge laugh!
What a load of crock! As someone who does skin grafts for a living I can assure you performing a skin graft would cause more asthetically unpleasing scars then leaving the burn to heal. Donor skin would be removed from the thigh causing a huge rectangle shaped scar on the legs while the receipent site skin goes through a mesher causing distinctive diamond scars. Tori is a complete moron.
She burned her arm? I thought she burned her face. So what is going on with the face?
In her books all she does is talk about her hospital visits, it makes me think she needs attention from the hospital staff and fans.
She needs to sue the heck out of the surgeon who botched her face.
Lost wages? She should sue her husbands wandering dick for lost wages. At least there she would have a case.
She should have to pay Benihana a portion of the money she’s making from selling these stories to the tabloids at the expense of their good name.
She’d have a better chance if this weren’t a franchise that a fair portion of the population is familiar with. Anyone who’s set foot in one of these places knows that you have to put in some pretty significant effort to burn yourself on one of those things, especially if you’re were you’re supposed to be.
That said, I can easily imagine that someone might receive a third degree burn if they did manage to fall in such a way. I had a friend in college who used to work at a hibachi place (not benihana) And some of her co workers thought it would be funny to deliberately put something on the floor for her to slip on ( I have no idea why they thought this would have been ‘funny’ and not ‘horrible’) When she slipped she accidentally caught herself on one of the grill surfaces (she was cleaning up behind the grill, aka where a customer is not intended to be) and because of the slippery floor was not able to immediately regain her footing and pull herself off. She had a significant third degree burn on her forearm from the incident. I only say this because if you fall hard enough, it can be quite difficult to pull your weight off of something like that.
those do look like they were severe burns. she would have needed grafts because 3rd degree burns do not heal, btw, not to “prevent” scarring–scarring from 2nd and 3rd degree burns is a given, and usually bad. however, the risk of amputation is uncommon, and not likely at this late date.