13 Celebrities Who Had Close Brushes With Death and Survived

Experiencing a brush with death can really put life into perspective. For some folks, realizing that our time on this world is finite might just give them the kick in the behind to finally go after their dreams and burn the midnight oil in pursuing that goal they always had in mind.

There have actually been a few notable celebrities and public figures who've had near death experiences, as discussed in this Reddit thread.

The duo of Siegfried and Roy shared their love of big cats on the big stage for years, so folks were horrified to see one of the tigers in their act seemingly attack one of the performers on stage. However, the pair maintained to People that Montecore, the tiger in question, wasn't trying to harm Roy. Instead, they said that Roy suffered a stroke and Montecore was attempting to pull him to safety. They noted that Montecore has always had a protective nature and did the same for one of his siblings while they swam in a pool.

The supermodel was in Khao Lak, Thailand during the Dec. 26th, 2004 Tsunami that killed approximately 5,000 people on the country's west coast. Nemcova was with her boyfriend at the time, Atlee, who was lost at sea. She managed to cling to a tree where she remained for eight hours until she was ultimately rescued.

Nemcova says the horrifying incident has helped to put life into perspective and she launched a charity following the event to help others: "The tsunami has given me many gifts and one of them has been consciousness of how lucky I am. I cry when there’s no hope, when I have to choose where to build a school and which kids we will help."

Prior to becoming one of Hollywood's most influential and successful directors, George Lucas was into racing cars. He had a modified whip with a racing belt installed and while turning into his home one day, a Chevy came and crashed into him out of nowhere. The racing belt ended up snapping and George was flung from his car, which ended up wrapping around a tree. Despite being severely injured, it's believed if he ended up hitting the tree, he would've been in much worse shape.

In 2008, a South Carolina Learjet 60 crashed as it was taking off from Columbia Metropolitan Airport in South Carolina. Six people were on the plane and only two of them survived — Travis Barker and disc jockey Adam "DJ AM" Goldstein. After the plane crashed, Barker managed to open the door to the plane and slide off the wing, waking up Goldstein, who was asleep to get out.

According to News Centre Maine, "In 1999, King suffered serious leg injuries of his own when he was hit by a minivan while walking along Route 5 in Lovell, Maine. His injuries included a collapsed lung, a broken hip, and multiple leg fractures requiring several surgeries."

Dr. Strange had a frightening encounter while driving to the set of To The Ends of the Earth in 2004 when his tire blew out in a sketchy part of town. After getting out of the vehicle in order to change said tire, him and his friends were held at gunpoint and robbed. His captors stuffed him into a car and after Benedict complained about his restraints, he was thrown into the trunk of the vehicle.

After being taken out of the car, the actor said the kidnappers let him go and that he was rescued by a "complete stranger."

Esther was renowned for her stunt work, which often left her in precarious positions. She'd been injured several times prior to filming this stunt and would be injured numerous times after it as well. While filming an underwater sequence in a black tank, she recalled how she nearly died while no one was paying attention to attempts to get their attention: "I kept bumping into the ceiling, I could see one guy on the phone not looking in my direction; another was eating a sandwich. I was frantic, hitting and hitting and hitting on the black walls and ceiling … I was going to drown. Finally, Pete, the prop man, saw what was happening, dove through the hatch, and pulled me out gasping and fighting for air."

Helena is probably best known for her work in the "Wicked Game" music video with Chris Isaak. British Vogue reported how when she was in New South Wales and walking about with a friend, she noticed someone was following the two of them in a car. The person then hopped out of the vehicle and began chasing them, but was later scared off by a trucker who drove beside them. Many believe she was almost the target of one of the country's most notorious serial killers, Ivan Milat, who targeted backpackers.

The Avengers star was left fighting for life and headed for a long recovery process after he used a snowcat to pull his nephew's stuck vehicle out of the snow. The plow began sliding down an embankment with Jeremy still in it. However, after seeing the vehicle was headed toward his nephew, he tried to stop it from harming him. As a result, Renner sustained serious injuries and had to be airlifted to a hospital.

Isla was purportedly not acting in this piranha tank scene of the 2013 heist movie, Now You See Me. Fisher says that despite there being safety precautions while filming the scene, which featured her chained up in a dunk tank, there were still complications that led to her becoming stuck underwater. She explains what went down: "I was in a tank of water — my character is submerged in a tank and piranhas are dropped on her head. And whilst we were there — we shot it over three-and-a-half days — even though I had a quick-release magnetic thing on my handcuffs, the chain that went between my ankles and my wrists was not able to be broken, and it got stuck underneath the slat and I was trapped."

Spade called the 30-year-old assistant (at the time of the attack) a "friend" who was "obviously mentally troubled." Reports indicate that the man broke into Spade's Beverly Hills home and attacked Spade with a taser. David ended up fighting back and grabbed a shotgun, locking himself in his bathroom. Spade spoke about the attack further with Howard Stern.

Ford has been known to enjoy taking to the friendly skies ... except they haven't always been so friendly to him. In 1999, the Star Wars actor had to crash land a helicopter. In 2000, Ford overshot a runway while piloting a Beechcraft Bonanza in Lincoln, Nebr. after wind blew the plane off track. In 2015, he had to crash land a WW2-era two-seater plane due to engine failure. He sustained a broken arm and head injuries as a result. In 2017, Ford also mistook a "taxiway for a runway road," almost hitting an American Airlines Boeing 737 with more than 100 people aboard.

According to The Independent, the King of Pop was supposed to be taking a meeting at the World Trade Center on the day the towers collapsed. Jackson credits a late-night phone call with his family for why he overslept and missed the morning meeting. Mark Wahlberg opted to fly to Toronto for a film festival instead of heading out to Los Angeles. He was criticized for saying he would've stopped the flight from being hijacked by terrorists, which he later apologized for. Seth McFarlane ended up missing his flight as his travel agent gave him the wrong time and he woke up with a hangover.