11 Celebrities Who Almost Died Due to Accidents, Health Emergencies and More

Amy Schumer had a near-death experience while surfing in high school.

In her interview with Vanity Fair, the now-42-year-old Trainwreck actress recalled almost dying — and almost losing her leg — decades ago when the fin went into her leg. Fortunately, a man saw her and helped her out.

"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," Schumer recalled. "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."

In February 2021, Ashley Judd suffered from a shattered leg while hiking through a forest in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. She told Kate Roberts on her "S--, Body & Soul" podcast a year later that she was in immense pain while waiting for help during the 55-hour rescue.

"I don't know how the mind and the body and the soul come together to manage to endure the unendurable," she said. "I bit a stick, I screamed, I howled, I convulsed. I never did pass out — I wished that I could."

She was eventually rescued by the Congolese, who took her in a hammock back to the camp. It took them six hours to reach a place where she was flown to a hospital in South Africa to receive treatment.

In her 2023 Women of the Year cover story for Glamour, Brooke Shields opened up about the grand mal seizure that almost took her life. Although her colleagues kept asking if she was alright, she still traveled to Café Carlyle, where she was scheduled to hold her one-woman show.

". . . I go to the sommelier who had just taken an hour to watch my run-through . . . Everything starts to go black. Then my hands drop to my side and I go headfirst into the wall," she recalled.

The Blue Lagoon actress regained consciousness while being loaded into an ambulance, as she saw Bradley Cooper holding her hand. Her doctors then admitted her into the ICU, where she developed bronchitis, and they found out that her low sodium due to too much water caused the health scare.

Demi Lovato lost her consciousness and came close to dying after overdosing on oxycodone laced with fentanyl. The Camp Rock star said she was already turning blue when they found her unconscious, and her doctors said she only had five to 10 minutes left to live.

Aside from the near-fatal overdose, she also almost lost her life from three strokes and a heart attack while being treated in a hospital.

In an article she penned for The New Yorker, Emilia Clarke spoke candidly about the two brain aneurysms she suffered from in 2011 and 2013 while filming Seasons 1 and 3 of Game of Thrones, respectively. Fortunately, she survived both health scares.

"There is something gratifying, and beyond lucky, about coming to the end of Thrones," Clarke ended her post. "I'm so happy to be here to see the end of this story and the beginning of whatever comes next."

In an October 2015 episode of Jimmy Kimmel Live!, Harrison Ford looked back at his near-fatal crash in March of the same year while flying his World War II vintage plane. He survived after making an emergency landing, but he suffered a shattered right ankle and pelvis on top of his broken back and bump on his head.

"I remember the engine stopping; I remember that part very well," the Air Force One star shared. "And then I remember the tower; I remember their suggestion. Their suggestion was that I take the normal route to land and I knew I wasn't going to do that, so I said no. And that's the last thing that I remember until five days afterwards, actually."

The National Transportation Safety Board released a report afterward, confirming that Ford's plane crashed after an engine malfunctioned.

Live and Let Die star Jane Seymour was asked by The Times about her beliefs after people die. While she said she had no idea about it, she shared that her 1988 near-death experience left her with a terrifying feeling.

She contracted bronchitis at that time and received an antibiotic into a vein instead of her muscle.

"I do know that I left my body," the Somewhere in Time actress said. "I did see the white light and I did look down and quite clearly see and hear everyone screaming and trying to resuscitate me, which they were able to do.

Jeremy Renner injured himself in a snowplow accident on New Year's Day while he was trying to clear a road near Reno, Nev. The Washoe County Sheriff's Office responded to a call and found out that it was the MCU star who sustained "blunt chest trauma and orthopedic injuries" after the vehicle ran over his legs and other parts of his body.

A neighbor, who is a doctor, applied a tourniquet on his leg while waiting for the paramedics. He was airlifted to a medical facility where he underwent multiple surgeries.

Amid his recovery, Renner appeared in the special interview titled Jeremy Renner: The Diane Sawyer Interview – A Story of Terror, Survival and Triumph and recalled the pain he experienced.

"Eight ribs broken in 14 places. Right knee, right ankle broken, left leg tibia broken, left ankle broken, right clavicle broken, right shoulder broken. Face, eye socket, jaw, mandible broken. Lung collapsed. Pierced from the rib bone, your liver — which sounds terrifying," he noted.

The Kill the Messenger star shared in another interview that he begged his family to let him go as he tried to survive his injuries. Fortunately, he fought and survived the traumatic accident.

Kanye West cheated death when he got involved in a serious car accident on October 23, 2002, while on his way home. He fell asleep and crashed into another car, leaving himself with a shattered jaw.

The "Gold Digger" rapper underwent emergency surgery to have a metal plate installed into his chin and wire on his jaw that kept his mouth shut for over a month.

Leonardo DiCaprio did not only have one near-death experience — but three.

Speaking with WIRED, the then-43-year-old heartthrob said he almost died due to a skydiving incident, a plane mishap and a shark encounter.

"If a cat has nine lives, I think I've used a few," he said.

Before launching her Celebration Tour, Madonna had to move the leg to a later date due to a bacterial infection that left her hospitalized. The "Back That Up to the Beat" singer was admitted to an ICU after being found unresponsive at her New York City residence and was allegedly revived using Narcan.

Her manager, Guy Oseary, released a statement to assure fans she was recovering.

"I didn't think I would make it, and neither did my doctors," she said during the opening night of her rescheduled Celebration Tour. "That's why I woke up with all of my children sitting around me."

She continued, "I forgot five days of my life, or my death, I don't really know where I was. But the angels were protecting me. And my children were there. And my children always save me, every time."