Ryan Reynolds, 49, revisited an alleged drunk-driving incident from his late teens in Vancouver, saying he was run over after leaving a bar and spending four weeks hospitalized, with multiple bones broken on his left side.
Ryan Reynolds didn’t lead with the story. He led with the punchline—then let the pain land.
In an interview with GQ released Tuesday. June 9. the Emmy-winning actor. now 49. recalled an incident from when he was 18: he was allegedly hit by a drunk driver. after a night of drinking in his hometown of Vancouver. The memory came as Reynolds sat with his Wrexham A.F.C. co-owner, Rob Mac, during an interactive interview that included assembling an IKEA furniture set.
“I got run over by a drunk driver after making a firmly positive and wise decision for a young, 18-year-old male. Spent four weeks in the hospital,” Reynolds said, jokingly comparing the difficulty of furniture assembly to the severity of what happened to him.
Reynolds described the night as a series of choices made with one goal—getting home safely without driving under the influence. He said the alleged crash occurred after he was walking home from a bar following a drink. Instead of driving, he opted to leave his car and walk. But when Reynolds went to cross the street, he said he was slammed into by an intoxicated motorist.
Reynolds said the impact left lasting damage that he still remembers in physical terms. “[I] broke every bone in my left side,” he said.
Mac responded, “That’s the first time I’ve heard that!”
Reynolds added that the collision was so forceful that “his car was not operational.” He then turned to gratitude. praising the doctor who helped him recover and referencing the Canadian healthcare system. “I’d like to thank Dr. Meek at the General Hospital for putting me back together so kindly. Socialized medicine, he couldn’t say no.”.
The interview also underlined how rarely Reynolds revisits the details—at least in public—because this account isn’t new. In 2011, in an interview with CTV News, Reynolds described the aftermath in sharper detail. He said the incident happened in Vancouver and that he spent three days in a coma after the crash.
Reynolds said: “I remember my dad sitting there … [with] a vomit tray. And I guess I had been heaving in my unconscious.” He continued with a grimly vivid memory: “And nothing says love like painting someone with three-day-old Gin Rummies. Just soaked the man head to toe in my vomit.”
Even with a full recovery, Reynolds said the injuries didn’t disappear. In the 2011 telling, he said he continued to suffer physical side effects. In the newer GQ interview, he returned to that theme plainly: “Since then, I’ve been a rickety, broken mess.”
Between the upbeat delivery and the blunt medical facts, the contrast is the point readers can’t miss. Reynolds says he made a “wise decision” not to drive, yet the outcome hinged on an intoxicated driver who left him hospital-bound for weeks—and, by his earlier account, unconscious for days.
Ryan Reynolds drunk driver Vancouver hospital Wrexham A.F.C. IKEA interview GQ CTV News Dr. Meek General Hospital
Wild he’s joking about it like that… four weeks??