Photos : Benedict Cumberbatch, Kate Winslet, Jason Statham: These celebrities had a close brush with death

Before he became Doctor Strange, Benedict Cumberbatch faced a real-world horror far more chilling than any Marvel villain. In 2004, while filming in South Africa, he and his friends were abducted, tied up, and forced onto their knees—execution-style. Just when it seemed like the end, the kidnappers vanished into the night.

But how did this affect his life in the long run?

The actor opened up about his brush with death and how it made him rather impatient in an interview with Variety, saying:

‘It gave me a sense of time, but not necessarily a good one. It made me impatient to live a life less ordinary, and I’m still dealing with that impatience.’

In Now You See Me, Isla Fisher’s magician character performs a daring escape from a water tank. But behind the scenes, fiction turned dangerously close to fact. The shackles she was supposed to escape from got tangled. The crew? Thought she was still acting.

What happened next? 

The actress quickly realised her shackles were entangled, preventing her from freeing herself. Since the crew believed she was still acting, and it took them a while to realise she was actually trapped, she had to keep her cool until she could get out herself. She explained later:

‘Luckily, I managed to get free and stay level-headed and got out before it went even more horribly wrong.’

Kate Winslet is now a renowned actress. Her breakthrough role in Titanic gave us an unforgettable love story—but nearly cost Kate Winslet her life. Filming an iconic flood scene alongside her co-star Leonardo DiCaprio, her coat got stuck underwater. With her breath gone, she had to shimmy out or drown.

And that wasn’t even the worst of it… ready to see what else she endured on set?

The young actress, who also contracted influenza during the shooting, explained to the Los Angeles Times in 1999:

‘I had to sort of shimmy out of the coat to get free. I had no breath left. I thought I'd burst. And Jim just said, 'OK, let's go again.' That was his attitude. I didn't want to be a wimp so I didn't complain.

Jason Statham is known for his extreme stunts in famous action-packed films. The actor had a close brush with death during the shooting of The Expendables 3 in 2014. He was supposed to get out of a truck at the last minute before it dived head first into the Black Sea. However, he got stuck inside the vehicle.

Lucky for him, he wasn’t just playing the action hero—he was one.

Jason Statham is a former professional diver, thankfully, which allowed him to jump out of the truck before it fell into the water. He then got out of the water, put on some dry clothes and continued filming. He later revealed:

‘It's a real recalibration of everything. From that day on, I've been so appreciative of life and being able to walk on the ground.’

Aaron Paul is mostly known for his role as young and careless drug dealer Jesse Pinkman in the series Breaking Bad, which he shares with Bryan Cranston. Jesse Pinkman’s chaos in Breaking Bad almost crossed into Aaron Paul’s real life.

What happened  shocked the crew… 

Indeed, while they were filming the sixth episode of the first season, Aaron Paul was asked to move slightly from where he was standing to get a better view from the camera. Only a minute later, a boulder fell from the roof of an RV and landed exactly where he’d been standing. One step to the left, and he avoided being crushed to death by mere seconds.

Jackie Chan made a name for himself as a revered martial arts master, as well as an actor. It is common knowledge that the actor suffered many serious injuries during filming, as he did his own stunts. However, one incident was actually life-threatening, and left him marked for life.

This was more than a stunt gone wrong—it was almost his final act.

In 1986, while he was shooting Armour of God, Jackie Chan fell from a cliff while doing a stunt. The actor landed on his back and hit his head on a rock. He was rushed to the hospital, and he thankfully recovered. However, he still has to live with a hole in his skull which he covers with a plastic plug.

The 33-year-old actor, mostly known for his role as the dearly beloved bestie Stiles Stilinski on Teen Wolf as well as his role in the Maze Runner franchise, suffered a terrifying accident on set. While filming Maze Runner: The Death Cure, Dylan O’Brien was hit by a vehicle during a stunt—and nearly didn’t walk away.

But what happened after the hospital might be even more dramatic than what led him there…

Dylan O’Brien was rushed to the hospital, as he suffered from a concussion, a facial fracture and brain trauma, and production was delayed for six months. The actor opened up about his recovery in an interview with Bustle:

‘I was really struggling. I never stopped working until that accident. It's a really strange thing to have so much of my identity be my career and then have this thing happen to me where I was convinced that I couldn't do it anymore.’

Gunnar Hansen rose to fame thanks to his role as the incredible murderer Leatherface in The Texas Chainsaw Massacre in 1974. It seems the shooting of the film was just as terrifying as the final result. The actor had to wear a mask that limited his peripheral vision, which had nearly disastrous consequences.

Real blood, real terror—no special effects needed.

In his memoir entitled Chain Saw Confidential, published in 2013, the actor recounts an incident that almost killed him. Since his mask prevented him from seeing clearly, he wielded his chainsaw as he went, and it jumped out of his hands once, landing inches from his head.

Orlando Bloom made history as heartthrob William Turner is the Disney franchise Pirates of the Caribbean. Before swashbuckling across the Caribbean, Orlando Bloom nearly lost everything. A 3-feet fall from a roof terrace crushed his spine and left him facing possible paralysis.

So how did this near-death moment change the man behind Will Turner forever?

The actor opened up about his accident in an interview with GQ magazine in 2005. He explained how the accident gave him a new appreciation of his life and his abilities:

‘Until then, I didn't have a healthy appreciation for life and death — that we're not invincible. And for four days, I faced the idea of living in a wheelchair for the rest of my life. I went to some dark places in my mind. I realized, I'm either going to walk again or I'm not.’

Strokes, near electrocution, and a teenage accident that nearly severed her jugular—Sharon Stone’s life reads like a novel of survival. The legendary Basic Instinct actress suffered a massive stroke in 2001, which took her years to recover from. She was also nearly killed when she was only 14, after a nasty cut to the neck almost took out her jugular vein.

And just when you think her luck couldn't get any worse… wait until you hear the third time she almost died.

The actress was once hit by lightning. In Brett Goldstein’s podcast Films To Be Buried With, the actress opened up about another one of her near-death experiences, saying:

‘I was at home, we had our own well. I was filling up the iron with water and I had my hand on the faucet. The well got hit by lightning and it came up through the water. I was indoors and I got picked up and thrown across the kitchen and hit the refrigerator. ... It was so crazy.’

The 52-year-old actor rose to fame thanks to his roles on Transformers and All My Children, among others. Shooting Shotgun Wedding turned into a real-life thriller for Josh Duhamel. During a swim, rogue waves nearly swept him off a cliff in the Dominican Republic.

And wait until you hear what he grabbed onto to survive…

The actor opened up about his scare in an interview with Jimmy Fallon. He told the late night show host:

‘The waves were crashing like 30 feet in the air. This rogue wave comes up as I'm videotaping this thing and literally washed me almost over the edge of this cliff. [...] It was one of the near-death experiences of my life, for sure.

He managed to get away thanks to some ‘razor-sharp coral’ which scraped his legs but gave him something to hold on to in order to get out.

David Arquette is a renowned actor, but he also tried his hand at professional wrestling, before a life-threatening accident convinced him to stop. During a so-called ‘death match’ with professional wrestler Nick Cage, the actor was stabbed in the neck with a light bulb. He told People:

‘I thought I was dying ... I got out of the ring and I was totally lost. I couldn't see and I couldn't hear.’

But what made him step into that ring in the first place—and why was it nearly the last thing he ever did?

David Arquette was rushed to the hospital, where he received stitches and surgery to save his life. He now views the ordeal as a wake-up call to look after himself more. With the help of his wife and children, he learned to love himself instead of engaging in destructive behaviour. He told People:

‘There was a certain carefree, daredevil aspect about the way I lived life previously. But I didn't want to die.’

Courteney Cox may have played it cool as Monica Geller, but she wasn’t so calm when her private plane lost a wheel mid-flight. With Jennifer Aniston by her side, she prepared for the worst. Just like her ex-husband David Arquette, Courteney Cox believed she was going to die while she was stuck on an airplane that was running out of fuel, alongside her Friends co-star Jennifer Aniston. She told Extra:

‘I'm not afraid of flying at all, my dad was a pilot, but I was really scared because when we were taking off, we heard this really loud bang. [...] There was no tire at all, there was no wheel. Luckily, there are two wheels on each side and two in the front.’

What happened when the plane touched down will give you chills…

The private plane was forced to make an emergency landing without one of the plane’s wheels. The actress recalled texting her daughter Coco ‘I love you’, as well as her boyfriend Johnny McDaid. She told Extra:

‘I sent a little text to Coco, 'I love you’. I didn't say why, and to Johnny. I told him everything that was going on and I FaceTimed him after.’

The American actor and composer, mostly known for his roles in action-packed films, had an actual near-death experience in 1988, after a gruesome motorcycle accident. Gary Busey lost control of his bike while overtaking a bus, and he landed on his head without wearing a helmet. He then underwent brain surgery, during which he reportedly died. 

So what did he bring back from the other side—and how did it change everything?

Gary Busey opened up about his near-death experience, explaining what he saw in the afterlife, and how he discovered his time on Earth was not done yet. In an interview with the Guardian, he said:

‘I was surrounded by angels. Balls of light floating all around me. And I felt trust, love, protection and happiness like you cannot feel on earth. It's the feeling the angels live in.’

In high school, Amy Schumer didn’t just bomb a surf session—she nearly died. The American actress and comedian suffered a life-threatening injury in her highschool-era while she was surfing. She told Vanity Fair in 2016:

‘I have a pretty bad scar on my leg from surfing. 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.’

And what happened next? A mystery stranger and a moment that would change her forever…

The actress managed to get back to the shore with a leg gashing blood, where she ran into a lone man who held her leg closed until the paramedics arrived fifteen minutes later. The accident gave her a new outlook on life, as she feared she would lose her leg. She told Vanity Fair:

‘I wish I knew who that guy was, because he saved my life, for sure.’