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- Actor Joseph Fiennes recalled witnessing a woman’s death while horseback riding during a vacation in Costa Rica on the Tuesday, July 22 episode of the Travel Secrets podcast
- “The whole horse landed on her and she fell back and really broke her head on the gravel and died,” Fiennes, who shared the story as an example of “the most unexpected, horrific accident” he’s seen while traveling, said
- “I couldn’t sleep for, God, I think a month,” Fiennes said of how the experience impacted him
Joseph Fiennes is recalling a tragic horse-related accident he once witnessed while vacationing in Costa Rica.
While Fiennes, 55, discussed his fondness for traveling on the Tuesday, July 22 episode of the Travel Secrets podcast, the Shakespare in Love star shared a harrowing tale with host Tanya Rose that he said happened while he was horseback riding with a fellow vacationer at “this wonderful hacienda at the foot of [an] old volcano.”
“I love horse riding, and I got on to a horse early in the morning to go with a fellow traveler who was staying at the hacienda,” Fiennes said. “She had just gotten married, and I remember getting up on the horse. It was getting quite hot, going into the shade, looking back, seeing this lovely woman kiss her husband goodbye, and then the horse reared up, and she sadly pulled on the reins and the weight of the horse came over and the whole horse landed on her and she fell back and really broke her head on the gravel and died.”
Fiennes, who shared the story as an example of one of his “most unexpected” travel experiences, said the experience “was the most unexpected, horrific accident, and in a moment of absolute beauty and joy and the sun and Costa Rica and horses.”
“In an instant you’re reminded that anything can happen. I held her for a while, her poor husband was in such shock that he couldn’t comprehend or communicate. And she slipped away. And I couldn’t sleep for, God, I think a month,” Fiennes added during the podcast.
Fiennes, who is best known for portraying William Shakespeare in 1998’s Shakespeare in Love, told the story as an example of how people traveling “do have to entertain the idea of danger” when visiting new places.
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“I did get back on a horse before I left, and I galloped, I went hell for leather to get it out of my system,” the actor added of that Costa Rican vacation. “But when I got back my dad did say, ‘You can never be entirely sure how horses are trained.’ Maybe it saw a snake, I don’t know. Maybe it got scared of something. But it could be the way certain horses are trained, it can get beaten into submission a bit, they can be very temperamental so you have to be super careful.”
Fiennes, who is Harry Potter and Conclave actor Ralph Fiennes’ youngest sibling, most recently appeared on the big screen in the 2024 television series Royal Kill List. His last movie role came in 2023’s The Mother; he currently has a number of projects in development.
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