George Clooney recalls his 2018 motorcycle accident in Italy: ‘The worst moment of my life was entertainment’
The Oscar winner was thrown over the front of his bike and up in the air before landing on the asphalt
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}George Clooney can still vividly recall his terrifying crash in Italy – and how the world reacted.
In 2018, the actor slammed his motorbike into an oncoming car that turned suddenly into his lane and was thrown several yards in the air on the Italian island of Sardinia, according to video footage of the accident.
"I’m not a cynical guy, but I will always, always remember that moment because nobody was jumping to go call for help or coming to help," the 59-year-old told AARP for their Feb/March 2021 issue.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"For them the worst moment of my life was entertainment," he continued. 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."
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George Clooney reportedly was in Sardinia filming a television miniseries adapted from Joseph Heller’s World War II novel 'Catch-22.' (David M. Benett/Dave Benett/Getty Images for Channel 4 Television)
Surveillance video of the crash, which was taken by a fixed security video, showed a blue Mercedes veering into oncoming traffic apparently to turn into a residential compound near Olbia.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The video showed what was reported as Clooney’s scooter crashing into the car while another scooter alongside him managed to veer around it.
Clooney was thrown over the front of his bike and up in the air before landing on the asphalt. He hit a car windscreen head first, causing the glass to shatter before he was tossed to the ground. The media gathered at the John Paul II hospital in Olbia where Clooney was treated.
While the Oscar winner was rushed to the hospital by ambulance after the crash, he was later discharged with minor injuries to his leg.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}AMAL CLOONEY CALLS HUSBAND GEORGE CLOONEY 'WONDERFULLY ENCOURAGING AND INSPIRING' AT BOOK LAUNCH
George Clooney is a frequent visitor to Italy. He has a home on Lake Como and was married in Venice in 2014 to the British human rights attorney Amal Clooney. (Karwai Tang/WireImage/Getty Images)
"I’m not a particularly religious guy," Clooney told the outlet. "So I have to be skeptical about an afterlife. But as you get older, you start to think, ‘Well, wait a minute. It’s very hard for me to say, once you’re finished with this chassis that we’re in, you’re just done."
"My version of it is that you’re taking that one one-hundredth of a pound of energy that disappears when you die and you’re jamming it right into the hearts of all the other people you’ve been closed to," he shared.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}In 2019, Clooney announced at a panel for his film "Catch-22" that his wife Amal Clooney had banned him from riding motorcycles since the accident. The couple tied the knot in 2014 and welcomed twins Ella and Alexander in 2017.
"I’m not allowed to ride motorcycles," he said at the time. "I got into a really bad accident. I hit a guy 70 miles an hour on my bike. Got launched. And so that’s it, I’m off of bikes. Grant [Heslov’s] off. We screwed up and our wives were like, ‘You can never get on a bike again.’"
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{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The Associated Press contributed to this report.