George Clooneydidn’t think he’d survive for a brief, but terrifying moment, after themotorcycle crashhe was involved with last summer.
This week, theCatch-22actor appeared onThe Hollywood Reporter‘s First Look, where he opened up about the scary incident in July 2018 that he miraculously walked away from without any serious injuries.
“I hit him at 70 miles per hour, so it was bad,” the Oscar winner, 58,revealed to the outlet,noting that the near-death experience led him to quit riding. “I split my helmet in half. It knocked me out of my shoes, it hit hard.”
Right after the crash, Clooney said he believed he might die from the collision, especially since his head took most of the impact.
“It was bad and I was waiting for the switch to turn off because I broke his windshield with my head,” Clooney recalled. “I thought, ‘Okay, well, that’s my neck.'”
The father of two jokingly added: “If you get nine lives, I’ve got all of them used up, so I can let go of motorcycle riding for a while.”
The moment wasn’t only traumatic for Clooney. His fellow producer Grant Heslov also recalled holding Clooney in his arms after the crash and making a pact to never ride again if his friend survived.
“I made a deal as I was holding him waiting for the ambulance,” Heslov explained. “I said to myself, ‘If he lives, I’ll never ride a motorcycle again.'”
It turns out Heslov has stuck to his word since that day, as both he and Clooney have now given up riding completely.
“It got both Grant and I — after 40 years of riding together — off of motorcycles for good,” Clooney shared.
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Last July, Clooney was traveling on his motorcycle in Italy when a car cut into his lane and crashed into him, flinging him into the air.
Police told NBC’s Claudio Lavanga at the time that the accident occurred around 8:15 a.m. local time when a driver of a car allegedly did not “respect the right of way,” cutting across the star’s path and hitting him.
The actor was rushed to the emergency room of John Paul II hospital after complaining of “a slight trauma to the pelvis and bruises to one leg and an arm,”accordingtoLa Nuova.He also reportedly underwent an MRI but was later released without serious injury.
Although the crash happened while he was filming the Hulu series,Clooney toldThe Hollywood Reporterthat the incident did not delay production. “I was back at work four days later,” he shared.
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This isn’t the first time as of late that Clooney has opened up about the crash.
At aCatch-22panel in New York City earlier this month, Clooney revealed that his wifeAmal, 41,banned him from riding two-wheel vehiclesagain, and then Heslov’s wife followed suit.
“I’m not allowed to ride motorcycles,” Clooney told the audience at the DGA Theater. “I got into a really bad accident. I hit a guy at 70 miles an hour on my bike. Got launched. And so that’s, I’m off of bikes. Grant’s off. We screwed up and our wives were like, ‘You can never get on a bike again.’”
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About a week later, Clooney appeared onThe Ellen DeGeneres Showand revealed more details about his thought process after the collision.
“I got launched, and I crushed his windshield in with my head and then I went flying up in the air afterward,” theOceans Elevenstarrecalled on DeGeneres’ talk show May 9.
“I actually thought that was it,” he added. “Do that 100 times, 99 [of those] times I wouldn’t be around [after]. So I used up nine lives, and then my wife and I said, ‘Ok, I’m off two wheels.’”
Clooney stars alongside Kyle Chandler and Christopher Abbott inCatch-22,which premiered on Hulu May 17.
source: people.com
