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Evening Standard
Evening Standard
Entertainment
Lisa McLoughlin

Woody Harrelson details motorcycle accident that caused him go over handlebars: 'There was some pain involved'

Woody Harrelson shared that he took a "tumble" on his motorcycle on the way to an interview with Conan O’Brien.

The 62-year-old actor arrived for an appearance on O’Brien’s Need A Friend podcast with his Cheers co-star Ted Danson, sporting a bandaged hand.

Addressing the Hollywood star’s injury, O’Brien said: “I think we should address the elephant in the room.

“Woody, we started a little bit later than we thought because you had a bit of a tumble. Is it fair to call it a tumble?”

“I think a tumble is a fair term. I did go over my handlebars,” Harrelson responded.

Opening up about the “embarrassing” incident, the Texan-born actor explained that he was “passing this Tesla on the left that I thought was moving a little slow but I didn’t realise he was moving slow because he’s taking a left.”

O’Brien, noticing the injury, confirmed that Harrelson was indeed on a motorcycle and inquired if it was his usual means of getting around.

The Hunger Games star added: “Well, I always feel like the shortest distance between two points in LA is a motorcycle. So I tend to take it.

“But today, it proved not to be very fast.”

To which O’Brien commented: “Right; because we lost some time while people were figuring out, ‘Are you alive?’”

Harrelson added: “There was some pain involved – I felt the pain – but I never thought I’d be killed or anything.”

The TV comedian then joked that Harrelson’s hand was wrapped up like “a cartoon,” before Danson admitted to being the reason behind the haphazard bandage wrapping.

“That’s because I wrapped it and I thought it looked funnier that way,” Danson joked.

Laughing, Harrelson shared: “And we’re in the bathroom, and I’m like, ‘You played a doctor, right?’ and [Danson] says, ‘Yeah. I also played a lawyer so we can sue the guy.’”

Harrelson’s appearance on O’Brien’s podcast comes as fans speculate whether his Hunger Games character, Haymitch Abernathy, will be the protagonist of the upcoming fifth book.

Author Suzanne Collins confirmed the exciting news earlier this month and announced that it will go on sale on March 18, 2025.

The book will pick up on the morning of the 50th Hunger Games, which happened to be the tournament won by District 12's Abernathy, and 24 years before the first novel, which came out in 2008, according to Collins’ publishing company, Scholastic.

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