Benedict Cumberbatch has opened up about the long-lasting effects being kidnapped has had on him.
The London-born actor is known for his fantastic roles on our screens, playing Sherlock Holmes in the award-winning Sherlock TV series and Doctor Strange in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
However, what you might not know is that the 48-year-old was once kidnapped and had his life put in danger.
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Speaking to Variety about his upcoming movie, The Thing With Feathers, Cumberbatch opened up about his past and how it has shaped his life since.
The Thing With Feathers is a dark drama about a father struggling with the loss of his wife, and having to take care of his family alone.
It describes a man in a crisis, which is similar to what Cumberbatch experienced when he was held up by a mob of men in South Africa in 2004.
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In his late twenties at the time, he was shooting the BBC miniseries To The Ends of The Earth when he and a few friends went off on a diving trip.
They were abducted and robbed by six men after pulling over on the side of a road in Durban.
Cumberbatch explained how they were then forced into a car for hours until they were taken out, tied up and then sat on the ground, helpless and bound.
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He told The Hollywood Reporter in 2013: “It was cold, and it was dark. I felt rotten. We were wary because that’s a notoriously dangerous place to drive. Then, poof, the front-right tyre blows.
“So we got the spare, but that meant getting all of our luggage out. We were like sitting ducks, adverts for - not prosperity necessarily but materialism.”
On how the men approached them, Cumberbatch added: “They were like: ‘Look down! Look down! Put your hands on your heads! Look at the floor!’ And they started frisking us and said: ‘Where’s your money? Where’s your drugs?’ - we had smoked a bit of weed - ‘Where are your weapons?’ And at that point, this adrenaline of fight or flight just exploded in my body. I was like, ‘Oh f**k, we’re f****d!’
“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.”
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However, thankfully, the men fled the scene after making the group sit on the ground with their hands tied.
Cumberbatch shared that the incident gave him a new outlook on life - one that is heartbreaking, yet beautiful.
He said: “It really, really enriches your values in life.
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“It’s incredibly important.”
Cumberbatch told Variety: “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 admitted that he also became an adrenaline junkie because of it.
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“The near-death stuff turbo-fueled all that,” Cumberbatch shared. “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.
“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.”
Britt Jones