George Clooney considered killing himself
By Jeannette Walls
MSNBC
Oct. 25, 2005
George Clooney says he considered killing himself because the pain from a movie injury was so great.
The actor’s woes came from the filming of “Syriana,” a political thriller based on the memoirs of ex-CIA agent Robert Baer.
“There was this scene where I was taped to a chair and getting beaten up and we did quite a few takes. The chair was kicked over and I hit my head,” Clooney said in an interview on National Public Radio.
“I tore my dura, which is the wrap around my spine which holds in spinal fluid.” Clooney says part of the problem was that he’d put on weight for the role.
Despite the agony he was in, Clooney ruled out taking painkillers because there’s a history of addiction in his family, but the pain got so great, that he considered suicide.
Clooney’s complaints were dismissed until spinal fluid started leaking from his nose. He has since had numerous operations.
"Before the surgery it was the most unbearable pain I’ve ever been through, literally where you’d go, ‘well, you’ll have to kill yourself at some point, you can’t live like this,’” Clooney said. He still suffers short term memory problems because of the injury.
“It’s probably the worst year personally I have ever had. My brother-in-law died of a heart attack aged 45, my grandma fell, broke her hip and died this summer. And my dog got attacked by a rattlesnake and killed.”
