Benedict Cumberbatch recently shared a harrowing experience from his past in an interview with Variety, revealing that he was kidnapped while filming the BBC miniseries To The Ends of the Earth in South Africa in 2004. The 48-year-old actor and his friends were returning from a diving trip when their tyre blew out. After pulling over to the side of the road, they were approached by six men who robbed and abducted them, holding them captive for hours before ultimately sparing their lives and fleeing the scene.
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Cumberbatch shares his experience after being kidnapped
The 48-year-old actor revealed to Variety how the incident rewired him. He shared with the outlet, “It gave me a sense of time, but not necessarily a good one. It made me impatient to live a life less ordinary, and I’m still dealing with that impatience.”
He continued, “The near-death stuff turbo-fueled all that. It made me go, ‘Oh, right, yeah, I could die at any moment.’ I was throwing myself out of planes, taking all sorts of risks. But apart from my parents, I didn’t have any real dependents at that point.”
He also revealed that the incident turned Cumberbatch into an adrenaline junkie who was in his late 20s at the time. He told teh media outlet, “Now that’s changed and that sobers you. I’ve looked over the edge; it’s made me comfortable with what lies beneath it. And I’ve accepted that that’s the end of all our stories.” The actor, ten years after the incident, married Sophie Hunter and has three sons– Christopher, 9, Hal, 7, and Finn, 6.
He said, “The minute you have kids this sense of time sinks in far more profoundly,” Cumberbatch told Variety. “My youngest is turning 6 tomorrow, and I’m like, ‘I will be in my 60s when he’s 21,’ you know? It’s crazy. It’s gone so fast. So there’s a huge shift in priorities, and it makes you value what you do with your life in a very different way.”
He previously talked about teh incident in 2013 with The Hollywood Reporter where he revealed, “I was scared, really scared. I said: ‘What are you going to do with us? Are you going to kill us?’ I was really worried that I was going to get raped or molested or just tortured or toyed with in some way, some act of control and savagery.” Cumberbatch started cherishing his life more after the incident and added, “It really, really enriches your values in life. It’s incredibly important,” as reported by the New York Post.
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Cumberbatch reflects on the intense attention to his physique
Cumberbatch opened up about the overwhelming reaction to his physical appearance when he first became a household name. He skyrocketed to fame after landing the role of Sherlock Holmes in the BBC’s Sherlock series in 2010, with fans quickly becoming captivated by his distinctive looks and sharp wit. He admitted feeling uneasy about his unlikely status as a sex symbol after he was titled “thinking woman’s crumpet” by tabloids at the time.
In talks with Variety, the Doctor Strange actor shared, “I’m not Brad, I’m not Leonardo, I’m not a typical movie star. People were scrambling for ‘Why is he at all attractive to us?’ But for me to guess and try to understand that is so f***ing weirdly navel-gazing.”
He continued, “I’m not sitting around thinking, ‘Why am I sexy?’ I worry about myself in the mirror as I age, like every other f***** does.” He also shared his annoyance with the term “celebrity” as he believed, “It’s so derogatory, and just lumps anyone famous together.” He added, “Am I a ‘celebrated’ person? Well, for what? For selling cheese? For being on a reality show? For doing something outrageous? For being an actor?” as reported by The Independent.