Stephen Merchant nearly died after jumping into a lake because he ignored a sign that said: “Don’t jump in the lake.”
The 49-year-old said he dived in because “it looks really nice” but was then scrabbling to get back onto the boat whilst his legs were getting dragged towards the propellor.
The Office co-writer told the Films To Be Buried With podcast he visited Big Bear Lake in California, with his parents, sister and her kids.He continued: “And you can take out these kind of little raft boats onto the lake. And a sign says, ‘Do not jump in the lake’. And you know, I’m a 45-year-old man and I’m thinking, oh no, I’ll probably jump in the lake because it looks really nice.
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“And so I jumped in the lake. And then I realised the reason it had that sign is you can’t get back onto the boat. There’s no ladder, the underside is kind of curved. And so I’m scrabbling to try and get back on the boat.”
(Image: AFP via Getty Images)
Merchant said his family on the boat were all ‘oblivious’ to his panic.He continued: “And I don’t want to worry the kids, but I’m starting to think, I think this is how I die.“And I’m, you know, I’m tall, as you know, and my legs are getting dragged towards the propeller of the engine under the boat.
(Image: Getty Images for Writers Guild of America West)
“And in the end, I managed to sort of notify my brother-in-law who kind of hauled me aboard and I sort of cut up my legs on the side of the boat.”Merchant, who is 6ft 7in tall, continued: “And I just look back on it like, what was I thinking?” Stephen previously revealed that he had trouble finding a girlfriend because of his height.
(Image: Getty Images for IMDb)
He has been dating girlfriend Mircea Monroe since 2018 after meeting at an awards ceremony in 2017. He once told Alan Carr: ‘If they’re down there and I’m up here, it’s a bit tricky. In 2019, Stephen admitted it was great to not have to worry about “filling” such a void in life after he had met the St Louis native.
He said: “Aside from the fact that she’s great… there’s something very pleasing about not having the endless concern about filling that part of your life. That’s a very lonely life, the life of a single person.” The couple live together in a £2.4million mansion once owned by former US talk show host Ellen DeGeneres.
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Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
