Seven celebrities who had terrifyingly close calls on 9/11
For some celebrities, a late wake-up, a change of travel plans or even forgetting a camera meant they weren't where they had expected to be when the September 11 attacks began.
Twenty-five years after the attacks, those near misses remain among the most extraordinary stories connection to the day, with several well-known names having narrowly avoided flights, meetings or visits to the World Trade Centre.
The attacks killed 2,977 people, and celebrities and actors were also caught up in the day's horrific events.
This includes Berry Berenson, the wife of late Psycho actor Anthony Perkins, who was aboard Flight 11.
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Other celebrities who would be killed that day included Frasier and Wings producer David Angell and his wife Lynn, Barbara K. Olson, who was aboard Flight 77, and New York City firefighter Scott Davidson, whose unit responded to the disaster.
His son, future comedian Pete Davidson, was just seven years old at the time.
Several other celebrities had some seriously close calls too, either being in the towers on the day, or on the planes which would go on to commit the most deadliest act of terrorism the world has ever seen.
Which celebrities were nearly inside the World Trade Center on 9/11?
Michael Jackson had performed at Madison Square Garden on September 10 as part of his 30th anniversary celebration and was due to attend a meeting at the World Trade Center the following morning.
According to his brother Jermaine Jackson's memoir You Are Not Alone: Michael: Through a Brother's Eyes, Michael overslept after speaking with his mother and siblings into the early hours.
"Thankfully, none of us had had a clue that Michael was due at a meeting that morning at the top of one of the Twin Towers," Jermaine wrote.
Oscar-nominated Precious actor Gabourey Sidibe also avoided being inside a building near the World Trade Center because she overslept and missed a class.
She later told the New York Daily News: "Later that day, one of the towers fell on the school building that I had class in, and people lost their lives."
Australian Olympic swimmer Ian Thorpe had planned to visit the South Tower's observation deck that morning, but returned to his hotel after realizing he had forgotten his camera.
His manager Frank Turner later told Australian radio: "He was probably 20 minutes away from being there."
Sarah Ferguson, the Duchess of York, meanwhile, was running late for an 8:45 a.m. meeting at her Chances for Children charity, which was based on the 101st floor of the North Tower.
She had been at NBC studios for an interview with Matt Lauer and then became stuck in traffic. The first plane hit the North Tower at 8:46 a.m.
Ferguson later said: 'I take every minute as a blessing, I really do, and I really work hard at it.'
A rag doll called Little Red, created by Ferguson as a mascot for the charity, was later recovered from the rubble and became part of a 9/11 memorial exhibit at Ground Zero.
Which celebrities were supposed to be on the 9/11 planes?
Family Guy writer Seth MacFarlane was booked onto Flight 11, which was hijacked after departing Boston and later crashed into the North Tower.
He has said a night of drinking after giving a lecture at his former college, combined with his travel agent giving him the wrong departure time, caused him to miss it.
Speaking to Howard Stern in 2011, MacFarlane said he believed that the flight was all set to leave at 8:15 a.m. rather than it's actual 7.45 a.m. departure.
He eventually reached the airport too late, then fell asleep in the lounge. He said: "I was booked on that flight…and I missed the plane by about 10 minutes. It was a very close call for me."
Mark Wahlberg was also supposed to be on the doomed flight, but changed plans about a week before the attacks after he and friends decided to attent a film festival in Toronto.
Wahlberg later apologized for controversial comments about what he believed he would have done had he been aboard the plane.
He told Men's Journal: "If I was on that plane with my kids, it wouldn't have went down like it did. There would have been a lot of blood in that first-class cabin and then me saying, 'Okay, we're going to land somewhere safely, don't worry.'"
He subsequently described those remarks as "ridiculous ... irresponsible ... [and] insensitive."
Grammy-winning singer Patti Austin also had a ticket for United Flight 93, which crashed into a field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, after passengers attempted to regain control from the hijackers.
But Austin changed her plans after her mother, Edna, suffered a stroke in San Francisco.
She flew to be with her the day before, on September 10, 2001.
In another close call, actor Rob Lowe was on an American Airlines flight just 11 days before a jet taking the very same route would hit the Pentagon.
Co-incidentally, flight records would reveal that hijackers were abroad the same fight, practicing and preparing for their attack.
Lowe told ABC: "It was a dry run with the 9/11 hijackers surrounding me in the cabin, same crew." He was later called to court to give evidence against attacker Zacarias Moussaoui.
Topics: History, Entertainment
Thomas Bamford