Jenifer Lewis, the 67-year-old actor known for her role on Black-ish, has spoken publicly for the first time about a near-death experience she had two years ago while on holiday. In an interview with ABC’s Good Morning America host Robin Roberts, Lewis recounted the accident and her recovery.
Lewis had gone on holiday to Africa to celebrate the end of her sitcom’s eight-season run. After visits to Cape Town and Rwanda, she went to the Serengeti, where she was staying in a lodge that had a balcony with an infinity pool. But while walking on the balcony at night, she fell 10 feet into a dry ravine filled with boulders and stones.
The balcony had not been sectioned off, nor was there a sign warning of the drop. “Of course, I was in shock,” Lewis said. “My right hip took the impact, my shoulder went up against a stone. A lightning bolt went through my mind’s eye right here. I laid there, I said, ‘Move your body, baby, come on Jenny, move your body.’ Then, I called for my friend, Lori. It was hard to even take a big breath to scream.”
Lewis lay there injured until a friend found her and went for help. “When Lori ran to get help, I heard a lion roar,” she said. “My last thought, because I am Jenifer Lewis, was, ‘what a headline: The king ate the queen. Pieces of Jenifer Lewis’ body being flown back to the states.’” She was hospitalized and had to undergo surgery.
In the interview with Roberts, Lewis discussed the difficulty of her recovery and the therapy that helped her. She went on to make a full recovery and has recently appeared in Jennifer Lopez’s latest film, This Is Me…Now: A Love Story
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