Sir Ian McKellen, 85, can't stand bad falls, but that's exactly what happened when he fell off the stage while performing in a play in London's West End in June. McKellen has been working on his recovery ever since, and needless to say, it hasn't been easy for the acclaimed actor.
The Tony Award-winning star opened up about his recovery in a new interview Epic magazine.
“I don't know how many times I've relived that fall. It was terrifying,” she admitted.
“It was during the battle scene. I tripped over a chair and as I was trying to get away I started sliding on a piece of newspaper that was spread out across the stage, like I was on a skateboard. The faster I tried to get away from it, the faster I went down a step, to the front of the stage and then into the lap of someone in the front row,” he recalled. “I started yelling, 'Help!' and then 'I'm sorry! I won't do this!' It was extraordinary. I thought it was the end of something. It was so sad.”
He stated that he was not talking about his death, but rather his “participation in the game.”
“I have to constantly reassure myself that I'm not too old to act and that it was just a bloody accident,” he said. “I didn't lose consciousness, I didn't get dizzy, but I couldn't turn back and they still acted without me.” His understudy eventually completed the production Gamer KingsNew adaptation of Shakespeare Henry IV.
“I don't feel guilty, but the accident has let the whole production down,” he admitted. “I feel very ashamed. I was hoping to be able to rejoin the play on tour, but I couldn't.”
His character's outfit is what saved him from further injury. “I wore a fat suit for Falstaff and that saved my ribs and other joints. So I actually had a lucky escape,” he joked. He still wears a neck brace and has a splint on his right hand. But his injuries aren't just physical.
“My fractured vertebrae and broken wrist haven't healed yet,” she explained. “I don't go out because I get nervous in case someone bumps into me, and I have excruciating pain in my shoulders from the shaking of my whole body.”
McKellen reportedly ended her relationship with her partner earlier this year, so she has had to rely on her “dear friends next door” to help her shop and cook during her recovery. “I couldn't have managed without them,” she admitted. “Without them, I don't think I would have hired someone to do it or had someone [convalescent] “I came home for a while.”
It doesn't look like McKellen will let this setback officially end his career.