Justin Theroux reflects on being hit by a van: ‘I couldn’t remember my name’

Actor had been skating in New York at the time of the incident

Justin Theroux has revealed he once had a skateboard accident that left him bleeding from the head and struggling to recall his own name.

The actor was knocked off his board by a van in New York City and had to wait over an hour for paramedics “with blood pouring out of” his head. He said he almost required brain surgery after the incident.

Speaking on The Ellen DeGeneres Show, Theroux recalled: “[There were] people all around me. I clearly blacked out for, I think a long time. There was a woman over me weeping, there were two men holding my arms so I wouldn’t touch my head.

“The woman was screaming at me, ‘Who are you? What’s your name? What’s your phone number?’ trying to get in touch with someone.

“It was as if someone had asked me, ‘What is an umbrella?’ and I forgot the name of umbrella but it was myself. I had no clue who I was. I mean I knew I was me, but I couldn’t remember my name and I couldn’t remember my phone number.”

Theroux said that when the paramedic arrived, he turned back to his partner and said: “He’s not dead.”

The Leftovers star added that at hospital he had CAT scans and was woken up by a concerned doctor who thought they had spotted something worrying. After being prepped for brain surgery, doctors concluded there wasn’t a bleed on the brain so the procedure would not be necessary.

“I spent about half an hour waiting just to go to brain surgery, but it was nothing. I had a nice big bald patch in my head. Couple stitches and I was discharged in the morning,” he said.

Theroux can currently be seen in the new Apple adaptation of his uncle Paul Theroux’s novel The Mosquito Coast.