Olivia Wilde recounts near-fatal horse accident: 'Walton Goggins saved my life'

01 July,2026 12:15 PM IST |  Los Angeles  |  IANS

Olivia Wilde has revealed that Walton Goggins saved her life during the filming of Cowboys & Aliens. Recalling a terrifying horse accident on set, the actress said Goggins risked his own safety by shielding her from a stampede after she was thrown from her horse

Olivia Wilde. Pic/AFP


Your browser doesn’t support HTML5 audio

Hollywood actress-director Olivia Wilde has expressed her gratitude to actor Walton Goggins. The actress-director owes her life to Walton Goggins.

The actress-director, 42, spoke about the incident that took place on the set of the 2011 western sci-fi movie ‘Cowboys and Aliens' in which they shared the screen, reports ‘People' magazine.

On the latest episode of Dax Shepard's Armchair Expert podcast, Olivia Wilde said, "Walt Goggins saved my life in that movie. I had a very bad horse accident, and he saved me".

She further mentioned, "It was me and Daniel Craig and Harrison Ford galloping, like, full sprint across the desert with 40 horses behind us. And it was like we were leading the charge to fight the aliens or whatever".

As per ‘People', she then said that the horse threw her off when jumping over a "large ditch". The mom of two then opened up to Shepard about the grave danger she realized she was in.

She shared, "This horse jumps and bucks me off in the craziest way. I fell off. I hit my head and my back, and I was laying (on the ground) but, unfortunately, I was on the other side of this kind of lip of dirt, meaning that all the horses behind couldn't see me. And there was also a lot of dust".

"I remember having my ear to the ground and I could hear it and it sounded like thunder, like they were coming towards me. And I had the thought, it sounds so dramatic, but I thought, it'll be quick. It'll be like, pulverized applesauce. Out", she said.

However, she went on to explain that the Django Unchained actor came to her aid. She went on, "Walt Goggins had seen (me) ahead of him and in a split second thought to turn his horse sideways right in front of me and let everyone kind of bash into him".

"He's a great rider, so he was able to handle that. People split the two sides around us, thinking he had just gone insane, but he was protecting my body on the ground. So I owe him my life. It's crazy. He's a real-life hero", she added.

This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed, agencies. Mid-day accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability, trustworthiness, reliability and data of the text. Mid-day management/mid-day.com reserves the sole right to alter, delete or remove (without notice) the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever

"Exciting news! Mid-day is now on WhatsApp Channels Subscribe today by clicking the link and stay updated with the latest news!" Click here!
olivia wilde daniel craig harrison ford hollywood news Entertainment News
Related Stories