He met with an accident in 2018 that put him off motorcycle riding for the rest of his life.
There's always that one incident in people's lives where they decide that they're done with certain things for life, even if it's something they've loved doing for years. Like riding motorcycles, for actor George Clooney. It's also taught him a lesson that the very fans who treat celebrities like gods can sometimes be highly disappointing.
Sharing a harrowing experience he had with his fans after his near-fatal 2018 motorcycle accident, Clooney told GQ, "I was on the ground. I was really screaming. Like, really screaming. And Grant [Heslov] came back, and he was screaming at everybody to get an ambulance, and I remember everybody got out of their cars, they stopped in the middle of the street, and all these people came and stood over me and just pulled out their phones and started taking video."
Here’s The Footage Of George Clooney’s Brutal Traffic Accident [VIDEO] https://t.co/gxZFma9LZN pic.twitter.com/ukWH0O2FVj
— Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) July 11, 2018
While promoting TV series Catch-22, the actor spoke to Hollywood Reporter and opened up about the motorcycle crash confessing that he thought he was going to die from the injuries. Revealing that he hit a car, the actor continued, “I hit him at 70 miles per hour, so it was bad. I split my helmet in half. It knocked me out of my shoes, it hit hard.”
Since it was his head that hit the windshield of the car, the actor was certain that it was going to be the end of his life. "It was bad and I was waiting for the switch to turn off because I broke his windshield with my head. I thought, ‘Okay, well, that’s my neck.'”
According to The New York Times, the accident was allegedly caused on the island of Sardinia because the driver of the Mercedes-Benz failed to respect Clooney's right of way. The producer of Catch-22, Grant Heslov was also present at the scene when the accident took place and initially thought his friend was dead. While we’re waiting for the ambulance, I’m literally holding his head in my lap, saying, ‘It’s okay, it’s going to be fine,'” he told GQ. “Meanwhile there are people taking pictures.”
"I made a deal as I was holding him waiting for the ambulance,” Heslov told The Hollywood Reporter. “I said to myself, ‘If he lives, I’ll never ride a motorcycle again.'" Clooney also echoed Heslove's resolution and 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."
Recalling the terrifying accident, the Ocean's Eleven actor told GQ, "I launched. I go head over heels. But I landed on my hands and knees. If you did it 100 times, maybe once you land on your hands and knees, and any other version you land, you're toast. It knocked me out of my shoes."
Clooney revealed that post-accident, he was thinking about his wife and kids. “My kids were like a year old, and mostly it was just the thought that this was it and that I wasn’t gonna see them again."
Talking to AARP about the crash, Clooney said that the people recording the crash and the aftermath was one of the most horrific things he remembers from that day. To him, it was an unforgettable moment. "It's a funny thing. I'm not a cynical guy, and I really tend to look at life and try to find the good in everything. But I'll never forget the moment that what I thought might be my last few moments was for everyone else a piece of entertainment."
He added, "People are getting killed because they're taking a shot of a car crash coming toward them. We're living in this world where everybody is trying to make themselves fascinating or important or something. When the reality is: Put that phone down."
Now, his wife Amal Clooney has banned him from riding ever again. The actor told GQ that he spent quite a lot of time at home during the COVID-19 lockdown and helped Amal co-parent their twins. "I cut my own hair and I cut my kids' hair and I'm mopping it and vacuuming and doing the laundry and doing the dishes every day. I feel like my mother in 1964. You know, I understand why she burned her bra."
Closer Weekly reported in 2018 that four months after the accident, the 59-year-old actor sold his prized Harley-Davidson bike online. The proceeds from the sale were used to build houses for severely injured post-9/11 veterans via the charity Homes for Our Troops.
References:
https://www.gq.com/story/george-clooney-icon-of-the-year-2020
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iT9RghQnl0w
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/10/arts/television/george-clooney-motorcycle-accident.html
https://www.aarp.org/entertainment/celebrities/info-2021/george-clooney.html
