By Wonderwall.com Editors
3:02pm PDT, May 2, 2024
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While it's sometimes difficult to perceive them as such, celebrities really are human like the rest of us. Join us as we take a look at some of the stars who've had near-death experiences…
Country singer Colt Ford recently revealed he "died two times" after suffering a heart attack during a performance at Dierks Bentley's club in Gilbert, Arizona, in April 2024.
"I didn't even remember coming out here to do a show in Phoenix, and apparently we played this great, sold-out show and it was incredible. I walked back to the bus, texted my fiancée, 'Hi, baby,' and fell over dead," the 54-year-old star said on the "Big D & Bubba" radio show on April 23, 2024, according to People.
"I died two times. Luckily, my band came out to check on me," he continued, explaining that his bandmates were able to get him to a nearby hospital, but the facility lacked the resources to perform the procedure he needed by then to survive.
"Bentley's trauma team got me [to a second hospital]. [I] died on the way over and they brought me back and saved my life," said the singer, who beat cancer in 2021.
"I had so much trauma to my body and my heart, they had to put three stents in," he explained.
Looking back on the experience, Colt said "it's been life-changing" and "spiritually changing."
While his doctors say he's not "out of the woods" yet, Colt said he still sees a silver lining: "The Lord had more for me to do. I've got more music for me to make and hopefully more differences to make in some people's lives," he said,
Read on for more stars' scary near-death experiences…
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Actor Mark Sheppard — who's best known for his work playing Crowley on the hit TV series "Supernatural" — is lucky to be alive after collapsing at home on Dec. 1 while suffering a cardiac emergency.
"Was on my way to an appointment yesterday when I collapsed in my kitchen. Six massive heart attacks later, and being brought back from dead 4 times I apparently had a 100% blockage in my LAD. The Widowmaker," he wrote on Instagram, referring to his left anterior descending artery — the largest coronary artery.
"If not for my wife, the @losangelesfiredepartment at Mulholland and the incredible staff @providencecalifornia St Joseph's — I wouldn't be writing this," he shared, adding, "My chances of survival were virtually nil. I feel great. Humbled once more."
MORE: Timothee Chalamet transforms into Bob Dylan
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On an August 2023 episode of his "Las Culturistas" podcast, Bowen Yang revealed he "almost died" while shooting a horse-centric scene for "Awkwafina Is Nora From Queens" in Iceland.
"[I've] ridden a horse for camera," the "Saturday Night Live" comedian said. "Guess what? This crew — and I love this crew — but this crew decided to have a drone and, of course, the horse don't know what the f*** that is, and then I almost died… I almost died in Iceland!"
The drone "spooked" the horse and Bowen "almost got bucked," he recalled. Keeping his humor about the incident, Bowen admitted to being scared at the time but also thinking, "This is a good way to go."
Although he survived, Bowen determined it's "not fun to be on a horse."
MORE: Stars who died in 2023
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Grammy-winning singer Tori Kelly was rushed to a Los Angeles hospital on July 23, 2023, after suffering an emergency while at dinner with friends. TMZ reported that the "Should've Been Us" and "Nobody Love" singer's heart started beating rapidly before she passed out, then remained "out for a while," a source told the webloid. The music star's pals put her in a vehicle and drove her to the famed Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, where she was admitted to the ICU. TMZ and ABC News reported that doctors discovered blood clots around her organs and in her legs and lungs. TMZ characterized the situation as "really serious."
On July 26, the music star's husband, Andre Murillo, shared an update: "Tori is smiling again and feeling stronger," he wrote on his Instagram Story. "Not fully out of the woods but we see the sun. Just waiting on a few more answers."
Tori herself broke her silence on July 27, sharing a letter on Instagram: "I'm dealing with some unexpected health challenges," she wrote in part, admitting "it's been a scary few days." Continued the "Sing" voice actress, "I'm feeling stronger now and hopeful but unfortunately there are still some things to uncover. I'm so grateful for the amazing doctors and nurses who have been looking after me."
After eight days in the hospital, the singer was discharged.
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On a July 2023 episode of the "Smartless" podcast, Idris Elba revealed that he "nearly lost my f****** life after attempting to stop a man threatening his girlfriend outside a club" in the United States. "A guy [was] wailing on his missus, screaming in her face, 'I'll f****** kill you,' and so on. I come round and I go, 'Look how beautiful she is. Why would you talk to this beautiful princess like that?'" the English actor recalled. At that point, he said, the man "pulled out a gun, stuck it right in my face, and goes, 'You talking about my girl?' He thought I was trying to hit on her. I remember thinking, 'Don't play negotiations like that… Consequences, man.'"
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In an April 3, 2023, Instagram post, "Grey's Anatomy" actress Caterina Scorsone revealed that she and her three young children — Eliza, Pippa, and Lucky, whom she shares with ex-husband Rob Giles — survived a devastating house fire a few months earlier. But that tragically, they lost their four pets in the blaze. "A couple of months ago my house burned down. While getting my kids ready for bed and finishing bath time, smoke began to seep up through the grout around the tub. When I looked down the hallway a river of thick black smoke had already formed and was filling the house," the actress captioned a slideshow of photos revealing the aftermath of the fire as well as honoring their beloved cats and dog. "One thing about fires: they happen fast. I had about two minutes to get my three kids out of the house, and we escaped with less than shoes on our feet. But we got out. And for that I am eternally grateful. Heartbreakingly, we lost all four of our pets. We are still sitting with that loss, but we are lucky we got to love them at all."
She continued, "This is not a post about a fire. This is a post about community. This is a love letter to the incredible people that showed up and the incredible ways that they did. Thank you to the firefighters and the investigators (thank you Trey!) Thank you to my neighbor who answered our frantic knocks at her door. Thank you to the parents at my kids' school who sent toys and books, my friends at @greysabc and @shondaland who sent clothing and supplies, my sisters who flew in to handle logistics so that I could be with my kids. Thank you to my team who made everything easier," Caterina wrote. "What we learned is that the only thing that matters are the people (and beings) that you love. The only thing that matters is community. We would not be here without it and we are so grateful. Thank you. Here are some photos to honor the space we once called home, to say goodbye to the animals that loved us so well, and to celebrate that we have the only thing we ever really needed: each other. -Love, Caterina"
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In November 2022, comedian Jay Leno was hospitalized for more than a week at the Los Angeles-area Grossman Burn Center with second- and third-degree burns to his face, chest and hands following a gasoline fire in the 140,000-square-foot Burbank, California, garage that houses his car collection. The former "Tonight Show" host was under a 1907 White Steam Car working on a clogged fuel line with pal Dave Killackey moments before the accident. "With a steam car, you have gasoline, but you also have a vaporizer which is heated by a pilot light to turn water into steam," Jay explained in an interview with People magazine. As air was pushed into the clogged line, "I got a face full of gasoline" that lit up due to Jay's close proximity to the pilot light.
He shut his eyes, held his breath and didn't panic. "I was under the car maybe 10 seconds before Dave pulled me out. Any longer than that I could have lost my eye," he revealed, adding that he smothered his face in Dave's work shirt to put out the flames. At the burn center, he underwent two skin-grafting surgeries — one with human cadaver skin, one with pig intestine, People reported — and received hyperbaric oxygen therapy twice a day to help heal the burns (he's seen here not long after he was discharged).
"Jay is definitely an outlier in terms of how well he's healed considering the severity of his injuries," his surgeon, Dr. Peter Grossman, told People. The "Jay Leno's Garage" star has kept his sense of humor about what happened, telling The Wall Street Journal, "Eight days later, I had a brand new face. And it's better than what was there before." According to Jay, "You have to joke about it. There's nothing worse than whiny celebrities. If you joke about it, people laugh along with you."
Keep reading to see Jay's "brand new face" three months later…
MORE: Stars who died from COVID-19
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Three months after suffering severe burns, Jay Leno appeared on "The Kelly Clarkson Show" in February 2023 and revealed how he was healing. "This is a brand-new face," he said before launching into a joke. "I was working on a car and I got a face full of gasoline and it caught fire. I had been eating a Flaming Hot Dorito when I bit into it. It set my face on fire."
A month later in March 2023, Jay opened up about another part of his body that doctors saved. "This is a brand-new ear," he told Dana Carvey and David Spade on their "Fly on the Wall" podcast, explaining, "When you get burned in a fire, ears are like paper. They're so thin it just goes up."
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Oscar-nominated actor Jeremy Renner's acting days could be over following his horrific snow plow accident. "Although he does still love acting, Hollywood is just not a priority to him anymore," a source told DailyMail.com. "Jeremy believes that he survived the accident so that he can use his platform to really create change in the world. He is very proud of the work that he has done, but this entire situation has really shown him that there is so much more that he could be doing to help others."
Jeremy was airlifted from his ranch near Lake Tahoe in Reno, Nevada, to a hospital on Jan. 1, 2023, following a terrible accident. The "Avengers" franchise and "Hawkeye" actor was in "critical but stable condition with injuries suffered after experiencing a weather related accident while plowing snow earlier today," his spokesperson told Deadline, adding that the "Mayor of Kingstown" star's family was with him at the hospital and that he was "receiving excellent care." On Jan. 2, his rep told People magazine, "We can confirm that Jeremy has suffered blunt chest trauma and orthopedic injuries and has undergone surgery today, January 2nd 2023. He has returned from surgery and remains in the intensive care unit in critical but stable condition." A source close to Jeremy told TMZ that the actor's injuries were "extensive."
On Jan. 3, Jeremy posted this selfie from his hospital bed, captioning it, "Thank you all for your kind words. I'm too messed up now to type. But I send love to you all." His rep added in a statement the same day, "Jeremy is making positive progress and is awake, talking and in good spirits. He remains in ICU in critical but stable condition. He is overwhelmed by the showing of love and support. The family asks for your continued thoughts while he heals with his close loved ones."
On March 16, 2023, the DailyMail.com source said, "Jeremy knows he is so lucky to be alive. Each day is a little better than before and he is definitely making progress, but the progress is slow."
Keep reading for all the details of Jeremy's accident…
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On Jan. 25, 2023, CNN obtained the Washoe County Sheriff's Office incident report that detailed what authorities had learned about Jeremy Renner's snowplow accident that took place around 9 a.m. on New Year's Day. The actor's adult nephew had gotten stuck while driving one of the actor's personal vehicles following a New Year's Eve storm, so Jeremy used his PistenBully to successfully get it out of the snow. According to the sheriff's office, the giant snowplow, which weighs more than 14,000 pounds, began "sliding sideways" then "began to roll down the hill," at which point Jeremy jumped out, he told investigators. "Once he was off the PistenBully, he realized it was heading directly toward [his nephew]," the report states, and "he feared the PistenBully was going to hit [his nephew] so he decided to attempt to stop or divert the PistenBully." But to get back in the cab, he had to climb onto its moving track — and that's when he was "immediately pulled under the left side track," the report explained.
According to authorities, the emergency brake had not been set nor was the brake indicator light inside the cab functioning. "Although the PistenBully had some mechanical issues, it is believed based on our mechanical inspection that the parking brake would keep the PistenBully from moving forward," the report noted, though it concluded that "mechanical issues may have been a factor in this accident."
Earlier in the month, Jeremy shared a horrifying stat about the accident while opening up about his recovery journey…
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On Jan. 21, 2023 — three weeks after he nearly died in a horrific snowplow accident — Jeremy Renner took to Instagram to share this photo of himself doing some light physical therapy while recovering in a hospital bed. In the caption, he revealed that he broke more than 30 bones when he was run over by his PistenBully snow groomer on New Year's Day: "Morning workouts, resolutions all changed this particular new years. … Spawned from tragedy for my entire family, and quickly focused into uniting actionable love. I want to thank EVERYONE for their messages and thoughtfulness for my family and I. … Much love and appreciation to you all. These 30-plus broken bones will mend, grow stronger, just like the love and bond with family and friends deepens. Love and blessings to you all," he wrote.
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In December 2022, former "Jacka**" star Bam Margera was hospitalized in San Diego and put on a ventilator in the ICU amid a serious case of COVID-19 and pneumonia. Bam — who'd been struggling with his sobriety at the time — was released on Dec. 10. Nearly a month later in January 2022, the former professional skateboarder revealed just how dire his health crisis really was. "Basically, I was pronounced dead on Dec. 8," Bam said on former co-star Steve-O's "Wild Ride" podcast. "I did not know that I had gnarly COVID and my body was shutting down. I went into four seizures, each one lasting 10 to 20 minutes. On the fourth one I bit my tongue so hard it [nearly fell] off. It got so swollen and puffy it wouldn't fit in my mouth. I was drinking the infected blood which gave me pneumonia as well." Then, Bam added, "I went to the hospital and had my fifth seizure and then couldn't breathe without a tube down my throat. I woke up five days later thinking I was there for just a couple hours. I spent eight days in there. When they took that tube out I felt like I sucked on Darth Vader's d***."
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After more than two months away from the "Today" show as he faced a health crisis, Al Roker returned on Jan. 6, 2023 — and revealed how much worse things were than previously known. In November, the meteorologist was admitted to a New York hospital where he was treated for blood clots that had developed in his leg and traveled to his lungs — he was told they likely developed after he recovered from COVID in September. He returned in December as complications emerged, ultimately spending four weeks hospitalized. Al has since revealed that he almost died from internal bleeding — he'd developed two ulcers that resulted in him "losing half his blood" — and underwent significant surgery as doctors worked to save his life, resectioning his colon and taking out his gallbladder. "I went in for one operation and got four free," Al quipped in an effort to keep things light as his wife, ABC News correspondent Deborah Roberts, spoke about the true gravity of the situation. "It's not lost on us that it's a big thing for Al to even be here. He is a living, breathing miracle," she said, adding that he was a "very, very, very sick man" and "a medical mystery for a couple of weeks."
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Jared Padalecki was involved in a "very bad car accident" in April 2022, and he nearly didn't make it out alive, a "Supernatural" co-star revealed. During a convention for the CW show on April 24, 2022, Jensen Ackles addressed Jared's absence, revealing for the first time that the "Gilmore Girls" actor had suffered injuries from a car crash. "He wasn't driving. He was in the passenger seat, and he's lucky to be alive," Jensen said. "I miss my buddy. Jared sends his love. I spoke with him yesterday. He's sad he can't be here." There were no fatalities in the crash. According to Jensen, Jared told him, "I feel like I went 12 rounds with [Mike] Tyson."
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Flavor Flav was inches from catastrophe after a boulder tumbled down a cliff and hit the side of his car while he was driving on Dec. 14, 2021. The Public Enemy rapper was in California's La Tuna Canyon during a drive from Las Vegas to Los Angeles when heavy rains loosened a boulder, which smashed into the front passenger side of his Audi, causing him to briefly lose control of the car. Had he been driving even 1 mph faster, the rock could have easily rolled over the top of the car and crushed Flav. "God is good," a shaken — but alive — Flav said afterward.
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In July 2018, Demi Lovato was rushed to an LA hospital in the throes of an opioid overdose. First responders were sent to their Hollywood Hills home on the morning of July 24 after receiving a call indicating that the singer was unconscious. Demi, who's long been open about their struggles with addiction, bipolar disorder and an eating disorder, had in June 2018 released the song "Sober," in which they admitted they'd relapsed after six years of sobriety. After doctors saved their life, Demi spoke out about the overdose on Instagram: "I want to thank God for keeping me alive and well. I have always been transparent about my journey with addiction. What I've learned is that this illness is not something that disappears or fades with time. It is something I must continue to overcome and have not done yet." At the 2020 Grammy Awards, the singer made a moving return to the stage with a performance of "Anyone," a song written as a cry for help just days prior to their hospitalization.
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In 2019, Kevin Hart almost lost his life in a horrific car crash when his classic car, which was being driven by a friend late at night, veered off the road and into a ditch in the Malibu Hills, nearly killing them and another passenger. Police determined that the driver of the car, Kevin's pal Jared Black, "gunned the engine and lost control," leading to a lengthy hospitalization. Kevin suffered three spinal fractures and endured months of grueling physical therapy, but was able to recover. In 2020, he told Men's Health that the accident changed his life forever. "It's a resurrection. That's the best way for me to put it. I feel like the other version of myself died in that moment and this new version was born to understand and to do better," the comedian explained.
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In December 2019, Zac Efron had a harrowing experience while filming a survival reality series. The actor traveled to Papua New Guinea to film the show "Killing Zac Efron" (talk about eerie), which documented his three-week stay in a remote Papua New Guinea jungle. For the purpose of the show, the "Neighbors" actor was only equipped with the bare necessities as he attempted to survive in the unfamiliar environment — but things took an alarming turn when Zac contracted an infection believed to be typhoid. He was flown to an Australian hospital to receive medical attention and luckily recovered. "I tend to thrive under extreme circumstances and seek out opportunities that challenge me on every level," he told Variety shortly before the incident. "I am excited to explore any uncharted territory and discover what unexpected adventure awaits!"
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"Riverdale" star KJ Apa was involved in a dangerous late-night car crash in September 2017. After reportedly enduring a 16-hour work day, the actor got into his car and started his 45-minute commute home (the show's primary filming location is outside of Vancouver). He fell asleep at the wheel and struck a light pole, though thankfully he didn't suffer any serious injuries. The incident, however, caused a firestorm of criticism around the "Riverdale" set, namely that the cast and crew were allegedly not offered transportation to and from the set when they had early and late hours. "This is an extremely troubling situation and we are deeply concerned about the safety of performers on the 'Riverdale' set," read a statement issued by SAG-AFTRA following the accident. "We are sending a team to Vancouver to review the circumstances surrounding safety issues affecting performers on this production."
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Dylan O'Brien suffered a near-fatal accident while filming a sequel in the "Maze Runner" film series. In March 2016, just days into shooting, the actor was involved in a stunt gone terribly wrong: A harness malfunction pulled him into the path of an oncoming vehicle. He suffered a serious facial fracture and a concussion in the accident, and due to the severity of his injuries, production was shut down. He underwent reconstructive surgery and now has "four plates that will be a part of me forever," he told The Salt Lake Tribune in 2017. "I feel really lucky to have come away from it — in terms of coming away from it at all on the day, and really how my face has healed. I was really lucky with a really brilliant doctor, and he salvaged a lot of what I used to look like." The actor has since starred in the 2017 film "American Assassin," which he credits with helping him get back in the swing of things. "It really ended up being hugely cathartic for me and showed me that I could do it again and get back on set," he added. "And not just any set, but something like this, and really tackle it head-on."
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On Oct. 23, 2002, Kanye West fell asleep while driving home and collided with another car. The accident left him with a metal plate in his chin and his jaw wired shut. Instead of staying home to recuperate, Kanye went back into the studio — with his jaw still wired shut — just two weeks following the accident to record what would be his breakout single "Through the Wire." "To nearly lose your life, to nearly lose your mouth, your voice, your whole face, as a rapper… and I had to be on TV!" the rapper said in a statement. "My face looks crazy to me now… But I have to just thank God for the situation that I am in… 'Through the Wire' is the worst thing that could've possibly happen to me, and now it's obviously the best thing. Look how it exploded!"
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British actress Emilia Clarke almost died twice after suffering brain aneurysms. In an essay she penned for The New Yorker in 2019, the actress wrote about how she hoped working out would relieve the stress and anxiety she felt after filming the first season of "Game of Thrones." "Then my trainer had me get into the plank position, and I immediately felt as though an elastic band were squeezing my brain," she wrote. "I tried to ignore the pain and push through it, but I just couldn't. I told my trainer I had to take a break. Somehow, almost crawling, I made it to the locker room. I reached the toilet, sank to my knees and proceeded to be violently, voluminously ill. Meanwhile, the pain — shooting, stabbing, constricting pain — was getting worse. At some level, I knew what was happening: my brain was damaged." An MRI showed that Emilia had suffered a brain aneurysm — the first of two she experienced. The second happened after season 3 of her hit HBO show wrapped. The actress was required to have two medical procedures after her second aneurysm in 2013. Since then, she's thankfully been in good health. "In the years since my second surgery I have healed beyond my most unreasonable hopes," she continued in her essay. "I am now at a hundred percent."
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In 2018, George Clooney was involved in a car collision while riding to a set on his motor scooter in Sardinia, Italy. "I hit him at 70 miles per hour, so it was bad," the actor recounted in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter. "I split my helmet in half. It knocked me out of my shoes, it hit hard." The actor collided head-on with a Mercedes (that driver was at fault). The impact sent him flying into the vehicle's windshield. Following his brush with death, George has since vowed to stay off any two-wheeled vehicles for quite some time. "If you get nine lives, I've got all of them used up. So I can let go of motorcycle riding for a while," he said.
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Note to self: Be careful while surfing! In a 2016 cover story interview with Vanity Fair, actress-comedian Amy Schumer shared details of a near-death experience she had while surfing as a teenager. "I had a pretty bad scar on my leg from surfing," she said. "Forty-one stitches, three layers. I skegged myself. My whole fin went into my leg and I had to yank it out. I was by myself." Thankfully, a kind stranger came to her rescue and held her leg closed with his bare hands! "I wish I knew who that guy was, because he saved my life, for sure. He had blue toenail polish and nail polish; he had long stringy hair. And I remember him being beautiful. Anyway, he held my leg closed."
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"30 Rock" alum Tracy Morgan almost died in June 2014 when a Walmart truck crashed into a limousine in which he was riding. The comedian was in critical condition immediately following the six-car accident, which claimed the life of his friend James McNair. He also sustained injuries to his brain and required months of outpatient rehabilitation to learn to walk again.
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Harrison Ford miraculously survived a plane crash in the Los Angeles area in March 2015 after the vintage two-seat airplane he was piloting malfunctioned in midair. He suffered fairly severe facial and scalp lacerations after he crash landed on a golf course. He also fractured his pelvis, shattered a vertebra and dislocated his ankle, requiring a lengthy hospital stay.
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In May 2014, Deryck Whibley shocked fans when he revealed that he had nearly died from years of "hard boozing." "I was sitting at home, poured myself another drink around midnight and was about to watch a movie when all of a sudden I didn't feel so good," the Sum 41 rocker wrote on his website. "I then collapsed to the ground unconscious." He was rushed to the hospital, where he was laid up for nearly a month. "My liver and kidneys collapsed on me," he wrote. "Needless to say it scared me straight. I finally realized I can't drink anymore. If I have one drink the docs say I will die."
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Drew Barrymore could have been killed in 2001 when the Beverly Hills mansion she shared with then-fiancé Tom Green caught fire while they were sleeping. The actress credits their late Labrador retriever-chow chow mix, Flossie, with saving their lives. She barked and "literally banged on their bedroom door," Drew's late publicist, Eddie Michaels, told the media. "Flossie was really the main alert that there was a fire."
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Orlando Bloom was paralyzed for four days and hospitalized for two weeks in 1998 after he fell three stories while climbing a drainpipe that collapsed under his weight (he was attempting to scale his way up to a rooftop terrace while hanging out with friends). The actor broke several vertebrae in his back and required multiple surgeries and 18 months of rehabilitation. "That accident has informed everything in my life," he told GQ. "Until then, I didn't have a healthy appreciation for life and death — that we're not invincible."
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Taylor Hicks was onboard a private airplane on Oct. 26, 2016, when an engine blew out during the flight. Taylor said his life flashed before his eyes and felt helpless. Luckily for him the plane had two engines. Eventually the pilot was able to land in a rural airport in Alabama.
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Back in 2007, Miles Teller was thrown out the window of a car moving at 80 miles per hour when his friend lost control while driving home from a music festival. The "Top Gun: Maverick" star reportedly landed 30 feet away from the vehicle, which flipped eight times. According to W Magazine, he ended up with 20 staples in his left shoulder, a broken wrist and deep gashes on his face — but somehow he was back in school just three weeks later.
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In September 2001, Sharon Stone had a crippling headache that almost sent her to the grave. The source was bleeding in her brain, which was caused by an artery rupture at the base of her skull. "When it hit me, I felt like I'd been shot in the head," she later told journalist Katie Couric. The actress spent nine days in the hospital slipping in and out of a coma. "This kind of giant vortex of white light was upon me and I kind of — poof! Sort of took off into this glorious, bright, bright, bright white light," she said. "I started to see and be met by some of my friends. But it was very fast — whoosh! Suddenly, I was back. I was in my body and I was in the room." Sharon was stabilized and received a clean bill of health after 22 platinum wires were inserted into the artery to stop the bleeding. "I had a real journey with this that took me to places both here and beyond that affected me so profoundly that my life will never be the same," she said.
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Joaquin Phoenix's near-death experience can only be described as very Hollywood. In January 2006, the actor was driving on a canyon road above Sunset Boulevard when he flipped his car. Fortunately, someone came to his rescue, and that someone was German director Werner Herzog, who not only helped pull Joaquin from his overturned car but told him not to light a cigarette in the gasoline-soaked vehicle. "I remember this knocking on the passenger window. There was this German voice saying, 'Just relax.' There's the airbag, I can't see and I'm saying, 'I'm fine. I am relaxed. Finally, I rolled down the window and this head pops inside. And he said, 'No, you're not,'" Joaquin said. "And suddenly I said to myself, 'That's Werner Herzog!' There's something so calming and beautiful about Werner Herzog's voice. I felt completely fine and safe. I climbed out. I got out of the car and I said, 'Thank you,' and he was gone."
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When 50 Cent rose to fame, word spread that the rapper had been shot nine times. But it wasn't just hip-hop folklore. On May 24, 2000, Fiddy was sitting in a car outside his grandmother's house in New York City when he was shot at point-blank range with a 9mm pistol. "It happens so fast that you don't even get a chance to shoot back," he told MTV. "You can't move. Your first reaction is to move and then the shots is going off and you jumping around the backseat. I was scared the whole time. Ain't nobody gonna tell you they ain't scared in that situation. It's a hit, man. You supposed to die in that situation. They're not playing." The bullets hit his face, hand, legs and thighs, and to this day, 50 still has a fragment in his tongue. Despite nearly losing his life, the rapper kept a positive outlook. "After I got shot nine times at close range and didn't die, I started to think that I must have a purpose in life," he wrote in his memoir "From Pieces to Weight: Once Upon a Time in Southside Queens." "How much more damage could that shell have done? Give me an inch in this direction or that one, and I'm gone."
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In the late '90s, Eminem made a name for himself rapping about drugs. But nearly a decade later, that's exactly what almost caused his demise. He was hooked on prescription drugs like Valium, Vicodin, Ambien and Seroquel and taking up to 90 pills a day, he's said. His drug use caught up with him in December 2007 when he overdosed on methadone, causing his organs to shut down. Eminem collapsed on his bathroom floor and was rushed to the hospital. "The doctors told me I'd done the equivalent of four bags of heroin," he told Rolling Stone in 2010. "They said I was about two hours from dying." He's now sober.
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Leonardo DiCaprio is a friend to animals, but one shark didn't return his affection when it nearly ate him alive! In 2006, the actor went scuba diving to observe great whites as part of his work for his environmental non-profit, the Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation. But when feeding time went awry, Leo almost became lunch himself. "They actually said [that] in 30 years, this has never happened," he told take show host Ellen DeGeneres. "But the tuna kind of got stuck on the top of the cage, and the great white leapt out and tried to bite it, and it went into the cage with me, and half of its body was in and out, and I flattened down at the bottom, and it was this far away, and it chomped a few times, but I survived it."
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One of the perks of being a celebrity is staying on your friends' private islands, but it's not so fun when a fire breaks out and nearly kills you. That's what happened when Kate Winslet was vacationing with her family on Richard Branson's Necker Island in the British Virgin Islands in August 2011. The blaze broke out during a lightning storm in the middle of the night. Not only did Kate live to tell the tale, but she saved Richard's 90-year-old mother. "I'm just glad that everyone is safe," Kate told "Entertainment Tonight." "And this easily could not have been the case." Kate later named her son Bear Blaze as a nod to the event. "Bear's second name is Blaze because my husband [Ned Rocknroll, who's since returned to his original name, Edward Abel Smith] and I met in a house fire, basically," Kate told talk show host Ellen DeGeneres. "The house burned down and we survived. But we wanted something of the fire and so Blaze was the name that we came up with."
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"The Rum Diary" brought Johnny Depp and now-ex-wife Amber Heard together, but the movie almost took his life. The actor was scouting locations for the film with director Bruce Robinson when their private jet's engines stopped working. "There was silence. Bruce and I were looking at each other and I think I said, 'Is this it?' It was like this weird extended moment when you're just floating for a second, and you could feel this unpleasant descent," he told Britain's Live magazine in 2011. "Nobody said a word except for Bruce and I, sitting next to each other saying, 'Oh s—! This is death; I guess this is how it goes down.' Then we burst into hysterical laughter at the idea that this was how we were going to die." But it wasn't the end of the line for Johnny: The engines started back up, and the plane landed safely.
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Gerard Butler almost drowned while shooting the surfing film "Chasing Mavericks" in 2011. "It's like you're in an avalanche, and you don't know if you're ever coming up, and you can't breathe and there's nothing you can do about it," he told HuffPostUK. "You think, 'Why did I do this, what was I thinking?' And it's too late. I know there are a lot of people who had those thoughts and never made it back up. And I did make it back up, but then it all started all over again because nobody could get to me, so I went down again twice, and that really put the fear of God into me."
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Isla Fisher almost drowned on the set of "Now You See Me" while shooting a stunt in which her character, an illusionist, attempts to break free while chained inside a tank of water. "My chain got stuck," she said during an appearance on "Chelsea Lately" in May 2013. "Everyone thought I was acting fabulously. I was actually drowning. No one realized I was actually struggling."
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Ozzy Osbourne has knocked on death's door a number of times. "With the drugs, it nearly killed me on a daily basis. I did a lot of heavy drug taking for a long time and I survived it by the grace of God," he told CNN in 2010. "I'm living on borrowed time." But Ozzy's drug use isn't the only thing that nearly took him out. In December 2003, the Black Sabbath rocker was riding a quad bike without a helmet at his Buckinghamshire estate in England when he hit a pothole and the ATV flipped on top of him. His bodyguard, Sam Ruston, gave him CPR on the scene before he was taken to the ICU. "If it wasn't for Sam, I probably wouldn't be here," he told the Sunday Mirror. "He had to bring me back to life twice." And although he survived, Ozzy didn't get off scot-free: He suffered eight broken ribs, a punctured lung, a smashed collarbone, crushed vertebra in his neck, a damaged artery and a severe concussion; he also had a metal plate implanted in his shoulder. "I'll never go near one of those damn bikes again. I've finally grown up," he said. "The bloody thing nearly killed me. I am lucky to be here today and not paralyzed."
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Travis Barker almost died during a plane accident in South Carolina in September 2008. Travis and buddy DJ AM were returning from playing a free T-Mobile-sponsored show in Columbia when their private plane failed to leave the ground during takeoff, skidded off the runway, hit an embankment and went up in flames. Although they sustained major burns, Travis and DJ AM survived the crash. The plane's other four passengers, including the pilot and co-pilot, were killed. "I was lying next to AM as the plane was exploding, and I was screaming, 'Are we alive?'" the blink-182 drummer told Rolling Stone in 2009. For more than a decade, Travis was afraid of flying and traveled by boat instead of by plane. (He returned to the air in 2021 after falling in love with Kourtney Kardashian, whom he credited with helping him move past his fears.) Sadly, DJ AM died less than a year after surviving the harrowing crash when he overdosed on drugs in his New York apartment.
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Liam Hemsworth almost drowned while surfing as a child in his native Australia. "When I was a kid, one time I got my leg rope wrapped around my whole body like a ball, underwater. Couldn't get up," he told Men's Health in 2012. "I was in waist-deep water, but I almost drowned… The fear of dying? That's part of the fun of it."
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No wonder Sean Kingston titled his 2013 album "Back 2 Life." Two years prior, the singer cheated death. He was fooling around on his new Jet Ski off the coast of Miami when he lost control and slammed into a bridge. According to police reports, the singer hit the bridge so hard that he left an imprint of his body on the cement. After being pulled out of the water by an off-duty Coast Guard rescuer, he was taken to the hospital and placed in the ICU. Sean suffered a fractured wrist, broken jaw and damage from water in his lungs. Nearly two weeks later, right before he was supposed to be released from the hospital, Sean had to have emergency open-heart surgery to repair a torn aorta and remove fluid in his heart. Although he coded a few times during the procedure, Sean lived to tell the tale — and sing about it. "I feel like God gave me a second chance at life," he told Fuse in 2013. "It wasn't my time yet. He still wants me to make music for my fans and take things to the next level."
