Dax Shepard was ready to go gently into that good night.
While chatting with Kaley Cuoco on his podcast, Armchair Expert, Dax Shepard shared a story about a car accident he was in during high school, recalling the moment he believed he was going to die.
Okay, so he was on TV, and he was talking about this feeling… he said he doesn’t even know how to describe it, but he genuinely felt like he was about to die! He said it was one of the strangest, most intense feelings he’s ever experienced, like he was literally seconds from… well, you know. It was so vivid, he actually said he thought he was dying! I’ve replayed that clip like a million times, and it’s just… chilling. You can feel the fear in his voice!
Let me tell you, sometimes life on the go means making quick decisions! My friend and I were driving back to Detroit from Toledo pretty late one night, and he swore he was good to drive. Knowing I had an early start the next day, I decided to trust him and catch some sleep in the back seat. It wasn’t ideal, but sometimes you just have to roll with it!
Dax remembered the driver had set the cruise control to 85 miles per hour. He was sitting in the back, listening to the road, and the steady hum lulled him into a relaxed state. He thought to himself that the rhythm was soothing and he was about to fall asleep when he suddenly heard the sound of gravel hitting the side of the car.
He explained that he glanced up and saw the driver slumped over, and they had veered off the road. They were traveling around 85 miles per hour when the car began to skid sideways.
The 51-year-old described the highway as being bordered by pine trees, and he attempted to steer to avoid a crash. He explained, “I tried to regain control of the vehicle, but it was too late—we were completely sideways. I braced myself, and then we went airborne, rolling down the highway.”
As the car seemed destined to crash into a tree, Dax—father to 12-year-old Lincoln and 11-year-old Delta with his wife Kristen Bell—felt a surprising sense of calm.
He recalled a moment of sheer panic, thinking he was about to die. Surprisingly, he then felt a sense of calm. He described going from intense fear – worrying the car was out of control and they were going to crash – to a strange peacefulness.
As he put it, “I was kind of weirdly at total peace with it.”
Thankfully, despite the car rolling around 10 times, Dax said, both he and his friend were okay.
Kaley, meanwhile, said the story was “terrifying,” but not an entirely unique scenario.
The actor, known for their role on Big Bang Theory, shared that they deeply connect with people’s stories, noticing a surprising sense of peace in them even during difficult times.
But Dax isn’t the only celebrity to recall a harrowing experience—read on for more.
In February 2017, Jamie Lynn Spears’s eight-year-old daughter, Maddie Aldridge, was driving an ATV near their home in Louisiana when she crashed into a pond. She was underwater for several minutes before being rescued.
Jamie Lynn remembered thinking her daughter had died when she was pulled from the water and first responders took over. She shared this on the 2020 Maria Menounos Better Together podcast, recalling the moment they believed they’d lost her.
Although the extent of her injuries was initially unclear, Maddie regained consciousness and was able to speak within two days. She was back to her usual self just a few weeks later.
Jamie Lynn shared that she feels incredibly grateful to have her daughter back, after a difficult time where she thought she had lost her.
An accidental prop gun strike injured Rebel Wilson on the set of her 2025 action comedy, Bride Hard. According to a June 2025 interview with Access Hollywood, Wilson was hit in the face during a fight scene on her final day of filming, resulting in a split nose. She immediately left the set, joking about her bad luck.
Oh my god, when she told me about it, I nearly fainted! She said she was totally freaking out, lying there in her own blood after… well, after what happened in 2023. Apparently, it was so bad they had to call an ambulance, and not just any doctor, but a plastic surgeon! She said if they hadn’t gotten him there fast, she could have been permanently scarred. Luckily, he was amazing and did all the stitches, and honestly? You would never know anything happened now. It’s just… incredible. I’m obsessed with hearing every detail!
Jimmy Fallon, the host of The Tonight Show, had a scary accident at home. He tripped and fell, and while trying to grab the counter to break his fall, his ring got caught, nearly ripping his finger off.
Doctors hospitalized him for ten days to try and save his finger after he suffered a severe ring injury – a “ring avulsion” – that threatened amputation.
In June 2025, Zane Wach, a seasoned hiker and multi-sport athlete who competes in running, swimming, and triathlons, almost succumbed to altitude sickness while hiking Mount Whitney in California with his father, Ryan Wach.
Ryan told SFGATE that the 14-year-old began having hallucinations, but was aware they weren’t real. He reported seeing things like snowmen and Kermit the Frog.
Ryan had to repeatedly stop his teenage son from walking off the cliff as they hiked back down the trail. The father explained that his son seemed disoriented and they weren’t sure why. He believes it was likely a combination of factors, including tiredness, lack of sleep, dehydration, and lingering effects from altitude sickness, which caused his son to question what was real.
After failing twice, Ryan couldn’t reach Zane before his son fell about 120 feet from the cliff. It took six hours for a rescue helicopter from Inyo County to arrive and transport Zane to the hospital in Lone Pine. There, he was stabilized and then flown to a specialized trauma center for children in Las Vegas. Doctors put Zane into a medically induced coma, but thankfully, he eventually started breathing independently.
Ryan described his teenager’s recovery from a serious accident – including a head injury, broken finger, ankle, and fractured pelvis – as a long journey. He said, ‘We’re still going through it, but he’s going to pull through.’
On New Year’s Day in 2023, actor Jeremy Renner, known for his role in Avengers, was helping a family member by using a snowplow to free a stuck vehicle near his Lake Tahoe home. After getting out of the snowplow, it began to roll and he attempted to stop it from hitting his nephew. In the process, he was run over and suffered 38 broken bones.
In his 2025 memoir, My Next Breath, he described lying on the ice on New Year’s Day, his heartbeat slowing until he simply grew tired. After manually breathing for around thirty minutes – a strenuous effort he compared to doing ten to twenty push-ups every minute for half an hour – he passed away, unbeknownst to his daughter, sisters, friends, or parents.
Despite suffering broken bones, significant blood loss, and the risk of dangerously low body temperature, he believed he had died. He recalled emergency responders telling him his heart rate had dropped to just 18 beats per minute, a level they considered fatal.
In May 2025, TikTok creator Emilie Kiser and her husband, Brady, experienced every parent’s nightmare when their 3-year-old son, Trigg, accidentally fell into their pool at their home in Arizona.
On May 12th, Chandler Police responded to a home after a child was found unconscious in a backyard pool. Police and firefighters performed CPR at the scene before rushing the child, Trigg, to Chandler Regional Hospital. Sadly, the toddler passed away six days later.
Emilie filed a lawsuit asking the court to prevent Maricopa County from releasing details about his death. The lawsuit explained that Emilie is focused on caring for her two-month-old son, Theodore, and is struggling every day with the situation.
Dr. Cara Hodgson described a family vacation to Thailand as “the worst 10 days” of her life after a December 2023 accident where she was shocked by power lines. She lost consciousness and was taken to the emergency room, then spent the following week and a half recovering in hospitals, struggling to regain her strength and ultimately fighting for her life, as she shared in an Instagram post on New Year’s Day. She expressed immense gratitude to be alive.
Despite the discomfort, the orthodontist discovered a renewed appreciation for life. Cara explained that the experience reminded her – and all of us – of something important: simply being alive is a gift. Being able to breathe, eat, speak, and move are all wonderful things worth celebrating.
In June 2025, Brazilian tourist Juliana Marins died while hiking on Mount Rinjani, an active volcano in Indonesia. She fell from a cliff, and despite a four-day search by a team of 48 rescuers, her body was only found after they battled difficult weather, challenging terrain, and poor visibility, according to a statement from the Brazilian government. Thankfully, she did not fall into the volcano’s crater.
Juliana Marins has sadly passed away, her family announced on Instagram. After reaching the location where she was, the rescue team confirmed she did not survive. The family expressed their deep gratitude for all the prayers, kind messages, and support they received.
In 2015, actress Tori Spelling, known for her role on Beverly Hills, 90210, accidentally burned her right arm on a hot grill while at an Easter brunch at Benihana. She required skin grafts and later decided to take legal action against the restaurant.
She revealed on her 2024 podcast, 9021OMG (co-hosted with Jennie Garth), that she received a skin graft from her thigh to cover a severe burn on her arm. She jokingly said, ‘Not many people can say they’re wearing their thigh on their arm,’ explaining that a thin layer of skin from her thigh was used to repair the damage.
Comedian Tony Knight tragically died in June 2024 at the Rock&Cars festival in France when he was struck by falling tree branches. He was 54 years old and enjoying life, according to Joanne Allen, the sister of his partner, Hayley Wright. Allen described Knight as fit, healthy, happy, and full of life, noting his charisma, humor, and passion.
He was deeply loved and admired by many, especially his partner. Haley shared on Instagram that he was incredibly talented and skilled at everything he put his mind to. She described him as a wonderful friend and a devoted dog owner, but above all, the most important person in her life, and she’s heartbroken by his loss.
A company celebration turned disastrous in January 2024. To begin the 25th anniversary events for Chicago software company Vistex, CEO Sanjay Shah and president Vishwanath Raju Datla were hoisted in an iron cage intended to descend 20 feet onto a platform at the party in India, according to a company representative who spoke with The Times of India. However, two cables broke, causing both men to fall onto the concrete stage.
Sanjay, age 56, died at the hospital after the accident, according to reports. Vishwanath, 52, suffered a serious head injury and died several months afterward.
Orlando Bloom revealed that when he was 19, he fell three stories from a window and fractured his spine. He was attempting to reach a rooftop terrace with friends when the drainpipe he was climbing gave way. Despite breaking several vertebrae, he was lucky to survive with his spinal cord still functioning, though narrowly so.
He explained that doctors initially told him, during his hospital stay, he might never walk again. This was the start of a difficult process of realizing how certain recurring patterns in his life had contributed to a series of accidents, ultimately culminating in a life-threatening back injury.
After leaving the hospital wearing a back brace and dealing with a lot of physical and emotional pain, he immediately started going out and partying—still wearing the brace, he told GQ in 2005. It took a few months for him to accept this was his new reality and that he needed to make the most of it.
He said the experience completely changed his perspective on life. He realized he hadn’t fully appreciated things until he almost lost it all. He used to be a reckless driver and motorcyclist, always pushing his limits, not for the thrill, but because he enjoyed the adrenaline. Now, he’s much more relaxed and cautious.
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2026-02-10 16:18