Olivia Wilde reveals Walton Goggins saved her after near-death experience on ‘Cowboys & Aliens’
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: Olivia Wilde has shared that if it were not for Walton Goggins, she would not be alive today.
The 42-year-old appeared on a recent episode of the ‘Armchair Expert’ podcast, where she revealed how Goggins became her savior when she experienced a near-death experience on the set of ‘Cowboys & Aliens’.
Olivia Wilde shares about 'a very bad horse accident'
Wilde told Dax Shepard, “Walt Goggins saved my life on that movie. He did. I had a very bad horse accident, and he saved me.”
The filmmaker, who’s skilled in horse riding, faced a fatal accident two months into the shooting of the 2011 movie by Jon Favreau. She explained, “It was me and Daniel Craig and Harrison Ford galloping, like, full sprint across the desert with 40 horses behind us. And it was like we were leading the charge to fight the aliens or whatever.”
Olivia Wilde believed that she would die that day
But at one point, Wilde saw a “large ditch” and knew that her horse would jump and buck me off in the craziest way.
“I fell off. I hit my head and my back, and I was lying [on the ground], but, unfortunately, I was on the other side of this kind of lip of dirt, meaning that all the horses behind couldn’t see me. And there was also a lot of dust,” she shared.
Wilde further disclosed to Shepard that in that moment, she understood that her end had come.
“I remember having my ear to the ground, and I could hear it, and it sounded like thunder, like they were coming towards me. And I had the thought — it sounds so dramatic — but I thought, it'll be quick. It'll be like, pulverized applesauce. Out,” she added.
Olivia Wilde calls Walton Goggins 'a great rider' and owes her life to him
But Goggins became her messiah that day. The ‘House’ actress said, “Walt Goggins had seen it ahead of him and in a split second thought to turn his horse sideways right in front of me and let everyone kind of bash into him. And he's a great rider, so he was able to handle that.”
“People split the two sides around us, thinking he had just gone insane, but he was protecting my body on the ground. And so I owe him my life. It’s crazy. He’s a real-life hero,” Wilde added.
But despite the horrifying experience, the mother of two described her time on the set of ‘Cowboys & Aliens’ as “the most fun I’ve ever had”.
“It was like riding horses with Han Solo. It was literally Harrison Ford and Daniel Craig and me and Sam Rockwell, who became one of my best friends,” Wilde added.