Benedict Cumberbatch has revealed he was the victim of a robbery and kidnapping in 2004.
“It gave me a sense of time, but not necessarily a good sense of time,” the 48-year-old actor told Variety in an article published this week. “It made me impatient to live a less ordinary life, and I still face that impatience.”
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Benedict Cumberbatch, in his twenties at the time, was filming the show To The Ends of the Earth of the BBC in South Africa when he went on a diving excursion with a group of friends.
But on the way back, a tire on their vehicle burst, forcing the group to stop on the side of the road.
They were then robbed and kidnapped by six men who forced them, according to Varietyto get into a vehicle and driven for several hours.
-The suspects eventually took the group out of the car and made them sit with their hands tied, as if in an execution, before fleeing.
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“Having come close to death made me realize that I could die at any moment,” noted the actor. “(So) I threw myself out of a plane, I took all kinds of risks. But other than my parents, I didn’t really have any dependents at that time. Today, that has changed, and it sobers you up.”
Benedict Cumberbatch has been married since 2015 to Sophie Hunter, with whom he has three sons.