The Blind Side star Quinton Aaron has opened up about a shocking discovery he made about his relationship while he was in the hospital fighting for his life.
Aaron, 41, best known for playing retired NFL player Michael Oher in the 2009 sports drama alongside Sandra Bullock, was hospitalized in January after suffering a near-fatal spinal stroke. He spent four days in a coma and a month hooked up to a breathing machine.
Sitting down with ABC News’s Steve Osunsami for an interview that aired Monday, the actor recalled waking up from the coma to learn from his family that his wife, Margarita DeLeon, could not make medical decisions on his behalf because she was still legally married to another man.
“The entire time we were together, she told me she had been divorced for 10 plus years,” Aaron said. “She even told the person where we were getting married, ‘Oh yes, I have all the documents. I can email over to you the divorce decree.’”
However, Aaron admitted he did not verify the divorce himself, calling it his “biggest mistake.”
Aaron said that he and DeLeon tied the knot two years ago in a chapel in Los Angeles. But it was not until he was in the hospital that he said his attorney found records showing that she was still married to a man she had wed in 1992.
“You did love her,” asked Osunsami, to which Aaron replied: “Yes, I did.”
DeLeon has disputed Aaron’s claims, telling ABC News that she was unaware her divorce filing had not gone through.
“When I told Quinton back in the hospital bed, and I want to be very honest about this, I feel like this needs to be said and brought out there. I said to him, I said, ‘Bibi, this information that your family pulled up on me, you know, I wasn’t aware of it.’ I said, ‘This is what I found out. It is true,’” DeLeon said in a Good Morning America segment that also aired Monday.
DeLeon’s husband filed for divorce in February. He also confirmed her account to ABC News, saying that he, too, thought their divorce had been finalized years ago.
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Still, Aaron said the startling experience has made him rethink how he approaches future relationships. “If I had a chance to do it over. I would have done my due diligence,” he said. “I would’ve definitely done a lot more research.”
The Independent has contacted Aaron’s representative for comment. A contact for DeLeon was not immediately found.
At the time of the incident, Aaron had reportedly been walking up stairs when his legs suddenly stopped working.
The health scare happened months after he revealed his 200-pound weight loss in October 2025. Sharing side-by-side pictures of himself on Instagram, he wrote in the caption: “I am overwhelmed and blessed to announce that I have reached another cool milestone in my life. Today, when weighing myself, I noticed that I reached the 200-pound marker.”
Aaron said he wanted to lose a further 55 pounds to reach his target weight.
Since being released from the hospital, Aaron has been in therapy every day. He is currently in a wheelchair, revealing that “the doctors projected that it could take months, it could be a year, or up to a year” for him to regain his ability to walk.
