Saltburn star nearly beheaded in freak accident

Emerald Fennell
Emerald Fennell recounted the terrifying experience (Picture: Robin L Marshall/FilmMagic)

Emerald Fennell has opened up about a near-death experience, and the whole thing sounds pretty petrifying.

The Saltburn director revealed she’d had a few close calls in her life, but the time she was ‘almost beheaded’ by a boat whilst on a trip to Italy stands out.

In Where There’s A Will, There’s A Wake podcast, host Kathy Burke asked the 38-year-old what ‘stupid stuff’ she’d done growing up.

‘I’ve had quite a lot of near-death experiences to the point I’m a bit worried I’m in a Final Destination,’ she responded. The horror franchise sees people who ‘cheated death’ meeting their end in increasingly grotesque ways. (Emerald thinks it’s the ‘best’ concept for a film FYI).

‘I nearly got beheaded on a boat,’ she casually stated.

There’s then a brief interlude where comedian Kathy, 59, explained that she once nearly got decapitated by a helicopter. Can everybody in show business keep their heads a safe distance from all modes of transport, please?

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA - DECEMBER 03: Emerald Fennell attends the 3rd Annual Academy Museum Gala at Academy Museum of Motion Pictures on December 03, 2023 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Rodin Eckenroth/GA/The Hollywood Reporter via Getty Images)
Emerald feared she was living in Final Destination (Picture: Rodin Eckenroth/GA/The Hollywood Reporter via Getty Images)

Emerald then added her brush with death was actually ‘the most glamorous thing that’s ever happened’ to her.

‘I was staying in Venice and a friend of mine who lives there was driving me to the airport in his boat. It is what it is guys.’

She continued: ‘Because some other friends had been staying, they’d be the ones who’d put the anchor up on the boat and they hadn’t put it inside the boat. They’d put it, I don’t know any boat words, but the prow? The bit at the front. I don’t know what it is.’

As they were running late, her friend didn’t notice that it was in the wrong place and so they set off on the journey.

‘We were going fast and we hit a little bump and the anchor I felt it go past my face, half an inch, it just went and he brilliantly stopped quickly enough for it to then kind of bounce away into the water,’ she recalled.

Mandatory Credit: Photo by Matt Baron/BEI/Shutterstock (14209769ar) Emerald Fennell 'Saltburn' film premiere, Los Angeles, California, USA - 14 Nov 2023
Emerald created Saltburn (Picture: Matt Baron/BEI/Shutterstock)

She believes that if it was slightly closer then her life would have been over, and she wouldn’t be here now telling the tale.

Despite the trauma Emerald can see the funny side, and joked: ‘I thought again if I’m gonna go, decapitated, on a sexy boy’s boat, in Venice [is a good way to go].’

Well, sometimes life is stranger than fiction. Although, the story is still not as wild as Saltburn.

The Amazon Prime film starring Barry Keoghan includes a tongue-in-a-bath plughole and a highly sexualised sequence in a cemetery.

‘We were all very, very dedicated to make something incredibly personal and unique and honest feeling, and in many ways, a lot of Saltburn is a little exposing or complicated,’ Emerald told Metro.co.uk about the film.

‘And I say that as the person who thought it in the first place! So if anyone should be asking any sort of questions about sanity, for example, they should leave them maybe at my door.’

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MORE : Inside Saltburn star Barry Keoghan’s private life from turbulent childhood to rumoured A-list romance

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