Ian McKellen credits padded suit for saving him in stage fall, says he’s still suffering from ‘agonizing pain’

Ian McKellen stated he has been afraid to go away his house for concern of sustaining additional damage after a stage fall in June in his first public remarks since he tripped throughout a efficiency and fell into the entrance row of the viewers.

“I keep away from going out as a result of I’m nervous somebody would possibly stumble upon me, and I’ve been coping with agonizing ache in my shoulders because of the jolt my physique took,” McKellen stated in an interview with Saga Journal.

McKellen, 85, a star of the “Lord of the Rings” franchise, stated his accidents have been nonetheless therapeutic after the autumn chipped his vertebrae and fractured his wrist. He had been taking part in John Falstaff in “Participant Kings,” a manufacturing of William Shakespeare’s “Henry IV, Components One and Two.”

“I’ve relived that fall numerous occasions. It was horrible,” McKellen instructed the journal. “I believed it was the top of one thing. It was very upsetting.”

Though the damage ended his portrayal of Falstaff, McKellen stated he thought-about himself lucky {that a} costume piece for the position — a padded swimsuit — cushioned his touchdown.

“The fats swimsuit I wore for Falstaff saved my ribs and different joints, so I take into account myself fortunate,” he stated.

After he was hospitalized, spokespeople for McKellen stated docs anticipated him to “make a speedy and full restoration.”

McKellen had continued his prolific performing profession earlier than the autumn, just lately showing as Hamlet in a contemporary rendition of the story. However he admitted that the accident has made him query his age.

“I’ve to maintain telling myself I’m not too outdated to behave,” he stated. “It was only a bloody accident. I didn’t lose consciousness, I hadn’t been dizzy, however I’ve not been capable of return to the stage, they usually’ve continued with out me.”