Celebrities Who’ve Had Scary Accidents

Amy Schumer

As a teen, Amy Schumer had a pretty dangerous surfing accident that left her with 41 stitches and a big scar on her leg. She says the entire fin from her surfboard sliced into her leg. Bleeding out, she panicked because she was alone. “It was just about to be winter and no one was on the beach. But I found like one guy with this other guy. I was like, 'I need you to hold my leg.' I was delegating. And he held my leg closed with his bare hands—just fat and blood coming out. I wish I knew who that guy was, because he saved my life, for sure.”

Harrison Ford

In 2015, Harrison Ford was flying a vintage military plane that lost engine power as he was flying out of Santa Monica Airport. After spotting a golf course, he crashed the plane on the green, just missing a residential street. He reportedly broke his pelvis and ankle and had a large gash in his head.

Travis Barker

Travis Barker, the drummer for Blink-182, and his musical partner DJ AM barely escaped from a burning plane after a tire popped on his Learjet, sending it careening off the runway. Barker suffered severe burns that led to 27 surgeries. The plane was scheduled to fly from South Carolina to the Van Nuys Airport just north of Los Angeles back in 2008. Barker’s personal assistant, Chris Baker and three others died in the crash.

George Clooney

Last month, while in Italy, George Clooney was going approximately 65 miles per hour when he was hit by a car head on, throwing him over the top of his scooter. Surprisingly, the actor wasn’t seriously injured. You can see video of the accident here.

Gerard Butler

Gerard Butler nearly died in a surfing accident in 2012 while filming Chasing Mavericks in which he plays real-life extreme surfer Rick "Frosty" Hesson. A giant wave knocked him down and dragged him over a jagged reef. “In the movie, I put in a scene about a ‘two wave hold down,’ when you are down for so long that the next wave comes over before you get back up, and that’s what happened to me,” Butler said.

Leonardo DiCaprio

While scuba diving with actor Edward Norton in the Galápagos Islands in 2010, Leo DiCaprio’s oxygen tank had a leak while he was filming a documentary on climate change called Before the Flood. Luckily, Norton was able to help DiCaprio out, presumably by sharing his oxygen with him. 

Then, in 2014, while cage diving with sharks in South Africa, a shark managed to wedge half its body inside the cage with DiCaprio. The water had been freshly chummed with tuna, and the shark attempted to bite the actor. 

In an interview with Ellen DeGeneres, DiCaprio said, "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."

Tracy Morgan

In 2014, Tracy Morgan, who at the time was starring in the TV show 30 Rock, was riding in a limo on the New Jersey Turnpike when the vehicle was rear-ended by a tractor-trailer. His injuries included a broken, leg, ribs and nose. He was also in a coma for two weeks after suffering a traumatic brain injury. After a long recovery period, Morgan has publicly forgiven the Walmart driver who hit him and has returned to performing.

Zac Efron

Back in 2013, Zac Efron reportedly slipped on a puddle of water outside his Hollywood Hills home, apparently landing on his face. His jaw had to be wired shut and the injury left a scar on his chin. The scar on his face just seems to enhance his pretty-boy looks, though we're sure he wishes he had a more exciting story to tell about it. 

Tom Cruise

Though he rehearsed a dozen times what should have been an easy jump, when it came time to roll film, he fell and broke his ankle. Cruise said he had an eerie premonition just before doing the stunt for Mission Impossible: Fallout.

"It was funny because when I got up to the top of that skid and I have to — first of all, I have to climb up that thing a million times. It was freezing cold," Cruise said. "When I got up there, I go into a free fall down the rope and there's just a moment where I'm thinking, 'I don’t want to let go. I don't want to do it.'"  You can see video of the accident here.

Channing Tatum

While filming the movie The Eagle back in 2010, Tatum was forced to wade through a freezing river in Scotland. To stay warm between takes, the crew would mix boiling water with river water and douse the star. At the end of the workday, however, a crew member forgot to add in the cold water and poured scalding water down Tatum's front side, burning his penis.

"I was trying to pull the suit away from my body to somehow get away from the boiling water, and the more I pulled the suit away, the lower the water went," said Tatum.

Tom Hanks

While filming Cast Away, Hanks got a small cut on his leg. “Something got in there,” Hanks said. “I flew home and, boy, was my leg hurting! The weekend we were home it swelled up really big so I finally went to the doctor, thinking he was going to clean out my knee and give me some antibiotics, but it turned out I had a staph infection that was close to giving me blood poisoning." Hanks' doctor told the actor he nearly died.

Charlie Hunnam

While shooting The Lost City of Z, Charlie Hunnam played host to an uninvited guest — in his ear. "I was staying in this little shack on this hill and woke up at three in the morning to this ungodly noise, like there was a pneumatic drill in my ear. An insect had burrowed into my ear and hit my eardrum so it couldn't go any further. It was a long beetle with wings. When it couldn't get back out, it kept trying to burrow further in and flapping its wings. That's what woke me up," said Hunnam.

Nicole Kidman

Most of us know that being beautiful is often painful, but Kidman found out the hard way. After breaking a rib rehearsing a dance number for Moulin Rouge, the actor donned a corset before the rib was properly healed. “I had this thing that I wanted to get my waist down to 18 inches, which Vivien Leigh had on Gone with the Wind and I was just like, 'tighter, tighter!'" Kidman said.

Brad Pitt

While shooting the moody murder mystery Se7en, Pitt took a terrible tumble on a rainy street during a chase scene. His arm went through a car's windshield and his tendon was severed. The film's director let Pitt keep his cast on his arm while shooting the scenes that came after the chase scene.

Jim Caviezel

While shooting the 2004 film The Passion of the Christ, Caviezel was literally struck by lightning. “I was lit up like a Christmas tree! I was doing the Sermon on the Mount. I knew it was going to hit me about four seconds before it happened. I thought, ‘I’m going to get hit.’ And when it happened, I saw the extras grab the ground,” said Caviezel. Kind of spooky if you think about it. Luckily, his injuries weren't life-threatening.