Count your luck: Shocking near-death experiences of royals and celebrities

When it comes to the rich, famous and royal, it's easy to just think of them as having it all - living the kind of life most can only dream about.

But it's not always dazzling tiara moments, enviable red carpet fashion and a life of luxury.

These shocking near-death moments prove that not even the other half is immune to terrifying accidents.

Shocking near-death experiences of royals and celebrities

Queen Elizabeth II was shot at by a loaded rifle

She may have been a beloved Head of State for a historic 70 years, but Queen Elizabeth II, like the Royal Family as an institution, had her fair share of critics.

In 1981, someone took their objections to a whole new level when they shot at Her Majesty with a loaded rifle.

The culprit was a seventeen-year-old New Zealander, who aimed at the Queen from five storeys above when she was on a tour of Australia and New Zealand.

Sharon Stone’s repeated lucky (or unlucky?) brushes with death

Fortunately for legendary actress Sharon Stone, she's been able to see the positive side of having so many near misses.

From having her neck cut dangerously close to her jugular as a teenager to being struck by lightning and later suffering a stroke, the Basic Instinct star used her constant brushes with death as the basis of her introspective 2021 autobiography, The Beauty of Living Twice - the title itself a nod to her second chances at life.

Of the first near-miss, Sharon has previously told The Sun, "I had my neck cut to a sixteenth of an inch from my jugular vein when I was 14 on a clothesline."

Queen Camilla was once ‘nine seconds’ away from a helicopter crash

In 2018, when Queen Camilla was still the Duchess of Cornwall, she encountered two terrifying near misses in her helicopter.

Her Majesty was travelling back from the Sandringham Flower Show when her helicopter almost crashed into another aircraft, a De Havilland Canada DHC-6, carrying parachutists.

According to the Daily Mail at the time, the royal helicopter was "within nine seconds of a head-on collision".

If that wasn't enough, while preparing to land after this first incident, Camilla's helicopter made another emergency manoeuvre at dangerously high speeds after spotting a glider and swerving to avoid them.

Elizabeth Taylor once recalled dying and coming back

Elizabeth Taylor's real life was, arguably, more dramatic than any of her iconic roles. Married eight times, condemned by the Pope, and coming back from the brink of death several times, the great Dame herself once recalled a time she felt she did cross over to the other side.

One of her biggest health battles came in the 1960s, when she needed an emergency tracheotomy following near-fatal pneumonia.

On The Oprah Winfrey Show in 1992, Elizabeth recalled actually dying during that time, believing she saw her late husband, Mike Todd, who told her "It's not your time... you have to go back."

Princess Anne’s attempted abduction

Princess Anne's kidnapping attempt in 1974 is the stuff of legend - partly due to the Princess Royal's hilarious response.

When her car was stopped by Ian Ball, who was armed and demanded the Princess get out of the car, she replied, "Not b***dy likely!"

While we can't be sure if Anne's life was ever in serious danger, it was still a shocking moment that could've ended badly. An inspector, Jim Beaton, was shot at during the incident, but nobody was fatally injured.

Jennifer Aniston and Courteney Cox’s scary flight

The intro to the Friends song famously declared, "I'll be there for you, when the rain starts to fall", but it could have been "when the plane starts to fall" after Courteney Cox and Jennifer Aniston's terrifying plane ordeal.

The co-stars and best friends boarded a flight to Mexico to celebrate Jennifer's 50th birthday in 2019; however, after a tyre burst during take-off, the plane was forced to make an emergency landing.

Per People, Courteney recalled, "I sent a little text to Coco [her daughter], 'I love you' - I didn’t say why, and to [partner] Johnny. I told him everything that was going on and I FaceTimed him after."

Meryl Streep had the best reaction to narrowly avoiding a plane crash

During the AFI Lifetime Achievement tribute to Meryl Streep, writer and actress Tracey Ullman revealed the two shared a near-fatal experience - and Meryl had the most calm and collected response.

During Tracey's speech, she revealed "an engine blew on the plane and the other one cut out and we began to descend and the lights went out and a young air stewardess started crying, which is never a good sign."

While everyone on the flight was screaming, the Devil Wears Prada actress turned to Tracey and quipped, "Oh, damn. That woman who's writing that horrible unauthorised biography on me will have a terrific ending."

Sarah Ferguson narrowly escaped 9/11

Sarah Ferguson, Duchess of York, has previously revealed that, had it not been for the slightest of traffic jams, she could have been inside the North Tower during the 9/11 Twin Tower attacks.

She told HELLO! that she was held up in traffic and didn't make it to the office for her Chances for Children charity inside the tower.

As a result, the Duchess revealed she takes "every minute as a blessing, I really do, and I really work hard at it."

Isla Fisher’s drowning stunt gets too real

Actress Isla Fisher proved her bravery when she decided to do her own stunts for the magic-themed Now You See Me movies, but one took a gnarly turn.

As Isla began shooting an underwater stunt, she realised her shackles had become tangled and she couldn't press the safety button to drain the tank.

As she began panicking and trying to alert the team, per reports from the star herself, the crew thought she was just acting the scene (the downside of being good at your craft!).

"They had a guy who was off camera, but he was a long way away with a can of oxygen... by the time I realised I couldn't get up and beckoned for him, I realised that I had run out of air," she previously explained to Cosmopolitan. "Luckily, I managed to get free and stay level-headed and got out before it went even more horribly wrong."

King Charles's avalanche tragedy

A tragic skiing accident befell the royals in 1988, when a group that included King Charles and Major Hugh Lindsay (Queen Elizabeth's Equerry) were hit by an avalanche.

King Charles was unharmed but Major Hugh sadly lost his life.

Jennifer Aniston's fear of water after she almost drowned

Jennifer Aniston has opened up about her fear of going underwater, and it stems from a scary near-death experience when she was younger.

The actress has previously shared how, as a child, she fell into a swimming pool while riding her tricycle, and she sank to the bottom. Her brother managed to save her, but her fear of going underwater has persisted - something she faced while filming her 2014 movie, Cake.

Queen Elizabeth II is shot at during Trooping the Colour

1981 went off with a bang for Queen Elizabeth II - and that's literal. Not only was the monarch shot at by a loaded rifle during a tour of Australia and New Zealand, but she was also put at risk on home soil that year.

During that year's Trooping the Colour, Her Majesty still attended the ceremony on horseback. As she rode down the Mall, someone fired six rounds of blank ammunition at the Queen.

While she might not have been at risk of death, she could've been seriously injured - especially if she hadn't been able to keep her composure and keep her horse in control.

The culprit - Marcus Sarjeant - was later prosecuted under the Treason Act 1842 and spent three years in prison.

Charlize Theron's action stunt goes awry

In 2004, while filming the futuristic action film Aeon Flux, Charlize Theron performed a backflip that went wrong, and it could've been fatal.

"What happened on Aeon Flux was a very unfortunate accident, and it was very severe," she said in 2017, per News AU. “I was a centimetre away from being completely paralysed for the rest of my life."

The injury left her with chronic pain, spasms, and nerve damage.

Ellie Goulding almost drowned in a lake

Pop star and friend to the royals (and the singer at Prince William and Kate Middleton's wedding), Ellie Goulding reportedly almost drowned in a frozen lake while travelling through Norway on the European leg of her tour.

Photographer Conor McDonnell shared on Instagram (per The Independent ) that he and the How Long Will I Love You singer were forced to climb out of the roof of a car in the night (and in minus-25-degree weather) to escape. Dramatic!

Leonardo DiCaprio had two failed parachutes in one of the ‘worst experiences’ of his life

Many are still traumatised by watching Leonardo DiCaprio sink to the bottom of the ocean in Titanic, but the star has had some scary encounters in real life.

When appearing on an episode of Ellen DeGeneres' talk show, he shared that he had a skydiving encounter that turned out to be one of the "worst experiences."

He shared, "I jumped out of the aeroplane, and then my first chute didn't open. It's tandem, so somebody's on your back. They cut that line. We started free-falling toward earth, and that's when you get the, you know, 8x10 glossies of your whole life flashing before your eyes."

If that wasn't enough, the backup parachute also didn't work.

The Wolf of Wall Street actor added that the second parachute was tangled for 20-30 seconds before the instructor untangled it, but told the star, "'Oh, you're probably gonna break your legs now because we're going too fast'"

Luckily, that didn't happen, but Leo called it "one of the worst experiences of [his] life."

Mariska Hargitay survived the tragic accident that took her mother's life

Screen siren Jayne Mansfield tragically lost her life at the young age of 34, when a car she was in was involved in a fatal accident in 1967.

Three of her children, including a baby Mariska Hargitay (who'd go on to star in the likes of Law and Order), were sleeping in the backseat and miraculously survived with minor injuries.

In the 2025 documentary, My Mom Jayne, Mariska's brother revealed that, at first, emergency responders didn't even realise that baby Mariska was in the car. They had to turn the ambulance around and she was found tucked underneath one of the seats.

Dolly Parton and her family nearly ‘froze to death’

Dolly Parton has never shied away from discussing her less-than-showbiz upbringing, growing up in the Smoky Mountains and not even having running water in the family home.

One of the darker moments of her childhood, though, saw her family facing potentially fatal freezing temperatures - something she later revisited when it was showcased in the TV movie, Christmas of Many Colours: Circle of Love.

Dolly told Entertainment Tonight in 2016, "We lived way back in the mountains and we had boarded up our windows to keep the snow and wind out, and had no idea it was going to snow like that. We got trapped in there.

"We thought we were going to die and our little tears were frozen on our little faces. We were frozen, no fire, no food, no nothing. And so it had to have been prayer that melted the snow around us and got us out of there. That's kind of like our Christmas miracle."

The Queen and Prince Philip may have narrowly avoided a train tragedy

It has been reported that Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip could have been the victims of a terrible train accident in 1970.

Per a news story in The San Diego Tribune, someone plotted to cause a train the royal couple were using on a tour of Australia to derail, leaving a block of wood on the tracks. If the train had been going fast enough, it would've caused a disaster; alas, that didn't end up being the case.

It should be noted that Buckingham Palace have never confirmed or denied the story.

Kristin Chenoweth has the worst first day at a new job

Broadway queen Kristin Chenoweth's lucky break turned out to be a near-fatal disaster.

The Wicked icon was cast in series four of The Good Wife in 2013, but on her first day on set, a light fixture fell and caused significant damage.

She was rushed to hospital with a fractured skull, broken nose, cracked teeth and injuries to her ribs. The injuries were so severe Kristin didn't return to the show for a full time role.

Jessica Lange didn’t panic when facing potential tragedy

While presenting American Horror Story actress Jessica Lange with the Ninth Annual Kirk Douglas Award for Excellence in Film at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival, the show's creator, Ryan Murphy, shared a true story about narrowly avoiding a real-life horror story of their own.

Ryan explained that the plane they were travelling on started to malfunction. At the Santa Barbara International Film Festival, he regaled, "We could see that the pilot's control panel was also black, and everybody was instantly frantic and a wreck."

Everyone, that is, except Oscar-winner Jessica.

Per Ryan's story, "She was very still. She was elegant in doom, even. I was so amazed that I finally said, 'Jessica, what the hell?! How can you be so calm?'"

Her iconic reply? "What the hell...it's been a good run."

Christie Brinkley's helicopter scare

In 1994, model Christie Brinkley experienced a terrifying helicopter crash. In the People interview from that year, she recalled, "We just dropped. All of a sudden, it was like someone cut the cords to the elevator, like the mountain was sucking us in, zooming into us. And I remember thinking, 'Oh, my god, this is really happening. This is not a movie effect... this is not a ride in Disney World.'"

Crashing nearly 12,800 feet up, no one was seriously hurt, but a Ski Patrol leader at the time told the outlet, "It was amazing that no one was killed."

Meryl Streep nearly drowned filming a scene

While filming the 1994 movie, The River Wild, Meryl Streep was reportedly convinced to pick up some action shots for a rafting scene.

Per Far Out Magazine, Meryl explained, "The boat surfed down into the hole, rose, and flipped over. And I went into the river. I remember sinking down to the bottom with this powerful and freezing water pulling me in deeper."

Meryl was quick to use this moment to subtly reprimand the director.

She reportedly said, "When I got to the shore, my legs actually went out from under me, but I still managed to get to Curtis. My heart was just pounding and I tried to be calm when I said, 'I really feel quite sure, if I say that I’m too tired to do something, then we have to assume I’m telling the truth.'"

A break in at Buckingham Palace might have had a different ending…

In 1982, Michael Fagan broke into Buckingham Palace. Twice. During his two break-ins, he claimed to have sat on a throne, drank half a bottle of white wine, and made it to the Queen's bedroom.

While there was never any suggestion Michael intended to hurt Her Majesty, the ease with which he reportedly reached her private room could have had a more shocking outcome had he been intent on causing harm.

Jim Caviezel had a few strange signs while filming as Jesus

Now, if you believe in signs from above, some might read into the accidents that Jim Caviezel went through during the filming of 2004'sThe Passion of the Christ.

Throughout the filming, he was scourged by accident, dislocated his shoulder, and suffered from pneumonia and hypothermia.

Most eerily, he was struck by lightning during the last shot of filming, which was the Sermon on the Mount scene. The lightning strike caused complications for his heart, requiring two surgeries and several years to correct.

Jane Seymour saw 'the white light' after shocking accident

Actress Jane Seymour had quite the time filming 1988's Onassis: The Richest Man in the World.

The star went from bad to worse after the medicine she was given went wrong and led to an anaphylactic shock.

She told The Times, “I had an antibiotic injection and it missed a muscle and went into a vein, and I had anaphylactic shock and I died and I was resuscitated... I do know that I left my body... 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. But when you’re out of your body, everything goes very calm."

Brendan Fraser's stunt goes awry

Brendan Fraser spoke on The Kelly Clarkson Show about how he nearly died on the set of 1999's The Mummy when a stunt saw him "choked out."

The actor was filming a hanging stunt and revealed, "I was stuck on my toes - I had nowhere to go but down. And so he was pulling up, and I was going down, and the next thing I knew, my elbow was in my ear, the world was sideways, there was gravel in my teeth, and everyone was really quiet."

Zac Efron ended up under a bus tyre

When keeping up with the Joneses - or in Zac Efron's case, the Jackman - goes seriously wrong...

Zac Efron, on an episode of The Graham Norton Show, revealed that working out with Hugh Jackman almost ended up fatal.

He shared, "I cycled with him in London, but I'm not one to ride a bike early in the morning in traffic so it turned out to be quite dangerous... I followed Hugh around a few cars and suddenly, there was a double-decker bus right in front of me. I slammed on the brakes, went under the front tire and narrowly missed death."

Queen Elizabeth II shocks her own guard who ‘almost shot her’

In a case of someone doing their job perhaps too well, a late-night stroll of Queen Elizabeth's nearly saw her fall foul of her own guard.

Per The Times, a patrolman came across a "figure in the darkness" and was prepared to take action. When he called out to see who was there, it turned out to be the Queen herself.

"B***dy hell, Your Majesty, I nearly shot you," he reportedly said.

True to her witty form, she reportedly replied, "That’s quite all right. Next time I’ll ring through beforehand so you don’t have to shoot me."

Orlando Bloom’s shocking fall that crushed his spine

In an interview with GQ magazine, Lord of the Rings actor Orlando Bloom opened up on a fall that left him seriously injured in his youth.

Revealing the incident, which saw him fall off a collapsed drainpipe, Orlando said, "Until then, I didn't have a healthy appreciation for life and death - that we're not invincible.

"And for four days, I faced the idea of living in a wheelchair for the rest of my life. I went to some dark places in my mind."

Seth McFarlane missed the flight that hit one of the towers in 9/11

Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane's missed flight turned out to be one of the luckiest moments of his life.

Due to being hungover, Seth woke up late and missed a flight - that would turn out to be American Airlines Flight 11 on 9/11.

The flight he missed was the first plane to strike the World Trade Center.

Tom Hanks' Castaway infection nearly proved fatal

After ending up with a cut on his leg on the set of Cast Away in 2000, Tom Hanks contracted a potentially deadly infection and found himself hospitalised for three days.

Uma Thurman was permanently injured on the set of Kill Bill

While filming Kill Bill Volume Two, Uma Thurman was asked to perform a stunt in a car that turned out not to be the safest.

In shocking footage of the accident later shared with The New York Times, Uma is seen hitting a tree and slumping in the car, having to be lifted out.

Uma reportedly suffered permanent knee and neck injuries as a result.