David Hasselhoff: How close have you come to dying?

The question

How close have you come to dying?

Originally asked

The Guardian, to a different person each week, The Q&A

A recurring Guardian Q&A prompt asked directly across respondents and years.

You answer as yourself. Nobody on FLAPSS answers as anybody else.

David Hasselhoff

American actor, singer, and television personality

Recorded said elsewhere, not written here

Scuba diving in Costa Rica. My stunt double and I were trying out some equipment that let us talk to each other and I ran out of air at 80ft - probably because I talked too much. I had to use his air. Then we were surrounded by sharks. It was scary.

The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 11 April 2009 source ↗

Others on this question

View all 209 →

Judy Murray Scottish tennis coach

On a flight, last February, from Atlanta to Rio. We went through a storm and I was convinced that the plane was going down. The overhead cabins were opening, everything was falling out, people were screaming and I was hanging on to my seat.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 12 December 2020 source ↗

Shappi Khorsandi Iranian-born British comedian

I’m convinced heartache almost killed me a few years ago.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 18 February 2017 source ↗

Lemn Sissay

I made a suicide attempt at 12 or 13 years old.

Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 14 October 2023 source ↗

Shaun Ryder English singer

I had a gun shoved in my eyeball in New York by a crack dealer in the 1980s. I have also watched somebody next to me get shot in the head in a gun battle – that was in Jamaica in the early 1990s.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 5 August 2017 source ↗