Ian McKellen shares how wearing a fat suit actually helped him when he fell off stage during a performance at London’s Noël Coward Theatre.
The Player Kings star, 85 — who portrays the character of Sir John Falstaff — said Saga magazine that he is now afraid to leave the house after the accident on June 17, but admitted that his injuries could have been much worse.
“My broken vertebrae and broken wrist are still not healed. I avoid going out because I’m nervous that someone might run into me, and I’m dealing with shoulder pain from the jolt my body has taken,” McKellen said. “But the fat suit I wore for Falstaff saved my ribs and other joints, so I count myself lucky.”
“I have experienced that fall countless times. It was terrible – he continued. “I thought something was over. It was very disturbing. The end didn’t mean my death, but it felt like the end of my participation in the play.”
Ian McKellen says his ‘injuries are getting better’ but won’t return to action after falling off stage
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Despite calling it a “lucky escape,” McKellen told the outlet that he has to keep telling himself he’s not too old to act.
“It was just a bloody accident,” he said. “I didn’t pass out, I wasn’t dizzy, but I couldn’t get back on stage and they went on without me.”
McKellen was in the hospital for three days after the accident. He was in a fight scene when he lost his footing and reportedly fell off the front of the stage.
“Just two weeks after my accident on stage, I want to assure my well-wishers that the injuries (wrist and neck) are on the mend,” the actor shared in a post on Xu, formerly Twitter, on July 2. the doctors promise a full recovery – but only if I avoid work for the next few weeks.”
McKellen later confirmed that his character would continue to be played by his replacement, David Semark.
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Source: HIS Education