These Hollywood celebrities stared into the eyes of death and made it blink

Charlize Theron, Elizabeth Taylor, Johnny Depp, Sharon Stone

Sharon Stone
In 2001, the Basic Instinct actress was rushed to hospital with a stroke and a subsequent cerebral haemorrhage that lasted a painful nine days. Life wasn't kind to the talented actress, post the incident. She emerged alive but with a limp, a stutter and had difficulty reading. She took it in her stride and says the incident made her emotionally intelligent and stronger.

Charlize Theron
The talented actress almost died when she injured herself while shooting for the movie Æon Flux (2005). The actress decided to do her own stunts instead of using a body double and broke her neck in the process. She was rushed to the hospital and shooting was stalled for eight weeks. Theron later said she was lucky to have survived.

Seth Macfarlane
Family guy creator, actor and singer, Seth Macfarlane has a story for the books. Macfarlane was scheduled to fly on American Airlines' flight 11 from Boston to Los Angeles on September 11, 2001 but missed it by 10 minutes, thanks to a bad hangover. Now, if that date doesn't ring a bell, let us refresh your memory. The same flight was highjacked and crashed into the World Trade Center, killing everyone on board in one of the deadliest terror attacks in history.

Johnny Depp
Not many people know that the Pirates of the Caribbean star was on a flight with his The Rum Diaries director Bruce Robinson, when the plane's engines died. Thankfully, the pilot managed to make a safe landing. Depp later spoke about the incident, saying, "There was silence. Bruce and I looked at each other and I think I said, ‘Is this it?'"

Elizabeth Taylor
The legendary actress, popular for her exquisite beauty, charitable endeavours and scandalous love life, had two major brushes
with death. The first was when she nearly died on the operating table during a surgery ; she stopped breathing for a good seven minutes. She later spoke of her experience saying that she saw herself in a tunnel with a warm white light at the end. The second incident was when she missed a flight because of a cold; the plane crashed, killing everyone on board.

George Clooney
While shooting Syriana (2005), Clooney broke his back. The star was hospitalised for weeks and said the pain was so intense that as he lay immobile on a hospital bed with an IV in his arm, he contemplated suicide. Luckily, he recovered from the injury after a successful surgery and looked as dapper as before when he turned up to receive an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor for the same film.

Gerard Butler
In an ironic life-imitates-art episode, Butler nearly lost his life in a surfing accident. The actor was filming a scene for the movie Of Mavericks And Men, when a large wave nearly swallowed him. Butler was saved by a patrolman and later recounted the incident, saying, "This wave spread across the skyline and it came and it was about 30 feet high. I felt the next wave go and then it started all over again."