Serene Branson Spills Cause of Grammy Flub

Says she's now feeling 'fine, wonderful,' after complex migraine
By Evann Gastaldo,  Newser Staff
Posted Feb 18, 2011 6:43 AM CST
Serene Branson Spills Cause of Grammy Flub: Complex Migraine
In this Feb .13, 2011 undated handout file photo provided by KCBS in Los Angeles, veteran TV journalist Serene Branson reports on the Grammy awards show outside the Staples Center in Los Angeles.   (AP Photo/KCBS TV)

It wasn’t a stroke that caused Serene Branson’s unintelligible reporting on Grammy night—it was a migraine. Specifically, a complex migraine known as a “migraine with aura,” whose symptoms can mimic stroke symptoms, her doctor tells the Los Angeles Times. But the CBS reporter, who viewed the now infamous clip of herself for the first time yesterday, says she’s now “fine, wonderful,” though her instant (and reluctant) celebrity has been “a bit overwhelming.”

In her first interview since the incident, back on her own station, Branson says she got a headache while working and felt “nauseous and dizzy.” She was “frustrated and terrified” during the report: “I was like watching myself in a movie. I knew what I wanted to say, but I couldn’t say it.” Afterward, "I felt like I was going to collapse. My right cheek went numb, then my right hand." But her doctor thinks it was an isolated incident, and she is looking forward to getting back to work and “reporting on the stories, not being the story,” she says. “This will all blow over. I’m looking forward to covering the Oscars.” Click for more on complex migraines. (More Serene Branson stories.)

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