Hollywood star Alicia Silverstone has reassured fans she is “alive and well” after she shared a video of herself appearing to eat a poisonous fruit in England.
The US actress, best known for her role as Cher in the 1995 film Clueless, shared the clip on her Instagram account on Monday.
In the video, she bites into a small orange fruit, which looks like a cherry tomato, before asking her followers what it is.
Social media users began to speculate that the fruit was solanum pseudocapsicum, commonly known as the Jerusalem cherry.
The fruit is mildly poisonous and the Royal Horticultural Society warns it is “harmful if eaten”.
The 47-year-old is standing in the street in the video, with the plant seen on the other side of a fence.
She says in her video: “Okay, I’ve discovered something that I can’t figure out what it is, and I need your help.
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“I just bit into it because I was on the street and we were discussing whether this was a tomato or not.
“It’s definitely not, because look at these leaves.”
She then showed the leaves before asking “what the heck is this?”.
The actress then bit into the plant again and showed the inside with seeds, bigger than those you would see inside a tomato of its size.
“I don’t think you’re supposed to eat this, it’s almost like a pepper, does anybody know what this is? I’m in England”, she said.
Concerned social media users replied warning her not to eat the fruit.
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One wrote: “It’s poisonous. Don’t eat that.”
Another added: “DON’T EAT wild berries or mushrooms or other ‘weird stuff’. I want you to be safe and healthy!”
A third wrote: “It’s a Jerusalem cherry. Don’t eat it!”
In a follow up post on Tuesday, Silverstone wrote: “Alive and well! Don’t worry… I didn’t swallow.”
In the Horticultural Trades Association’s 2022 guide to potentially harmful plants, the Jerusalem cherry is listed as being harmful if eaten by either humans or animals.
In the years after her role in Clueless, Silverstone appeared in Batman And Robin (1997) and Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed (2004).
