George Clooney thought he’d snapped his neck when he crashed his moped last year.
The 58-year-old actor decided to hang up his helmet for good after he was thrown 20 feet in the air when he was hit by a car as he was driving to the set of his movie ‘Catch-22’ in Sardinia, Italy in July, as he was convinced he was going to die when he saw his armour in pieces.
Speaking to ‘The Hollywood Reporter’, he said: "After 40 years of riding, I’m off of motorcycles for good. I had to quit, it was bad! I hit him at 70MPH. I split my helmet in half and knocked me out of my shoes. I was just waiting for the switch to turn off because I hit his windshield with my head and I thought, ‘Ok, well that’s my neck.’ So, if you get nine lives, I’ve got all of them used up so I can let go of motorcycle riding for a while."
Despite ruining his helmet, George didn’t sustain any serious injuries – except a sprain to his knee – and was back at work filming the blockbuster just four days later.
He said: "I was back at work four days later. "
The driver of the car who collided with George blamed the accident on the sun, claiming he failed to see the star on his moped because the beam from the sky blinded him.
Antonello Viglino said at the time: "I couldn’t see anything, I had the sun in my eyes. I was just starting to turn, I’d only gone a little way over the white line. I’m in shock. It all happened in an instant. I recognised him as soon as he took his helmet off.
"I tried to stay calm, I was worried that he had hurt himself really badly. I could never have imagined that I would have hit George Clooney."
George has 23-month-old twins Ella and Alexander with his wife Amal Clooney.
George Clooney thought he’d snapped neck during crash
