Ford and Flockhart at the Governors Awards, November 2018. Rob Latour/Shutterstock
It’s no Millennium Falcon! Harrison Ford revealed that Calista Flockhart refuses to fly in “vintage” planes with him after his near-fatal accident in 2015.
“My wife does not fly with me in vintage airplanes anymore — she will in others,” the Star Wars star*, 80, told The Hollywood Reporter in an interview published Wednesday, February 8.
The actor, for his part, recalled that the March 2015 incident — in which he was flying a WWII plane that clipped a tree and landed on a golf course in Venice, California, causing him to sustain serious injuries — “was really hard on my family and it was hard on me.”
Ford is a father of five; he shares sons Benjamin, 56, and Willard, 53, with first wife Mary Marquardt; son Malcolm, 35, and daughter Georgia, 32, with second wife Melissa Mathison; as well as son Liam, 21, with Flockhart, Ford’s partner of more than 20 years. Ford and Flockhart, 58, married in 2010.
“I certainly don’t want to have to recover from that kind of accident again,” the Indiana Jones star told the outlet, adding that he did go “back to flying” after the accident. “I know what happened. So that’s part of the reason [I went back]. There was a mechanical issue with the airplane I could not have known about or attended to in any way,” he explained. “So in the words of the great philosopher Jimmy Buffett: ’S—t happens.’”
At the time, Ford’s rep issued a statement to Us Weekly noting that the Academy Award winner “was flying a WWII vintage plane today which had engine trouble upon take off. He had no other choice but to make an emergency landing, which he did safely.”
The statement continued, “He was banged up and is in the hospital receiving medical care. The injuries sustained are not life threatening, and he is expected to make a full recovery.”
At the time, Dr. Sanjay Khurana was playing at the golf course on which Ford’s plane landed — and quickly rushed to his aid. It was upon seeing his face did the doctor realize who he was helping.
“He was stunned a bit. He was moaning and in pain,” Khurana told ABC News, adding that the Fugitive star was “slumped over in distress belted in.” He quickly recruited others on the golf course to help, asking them “to put dirt on the fuel so it wouldn’t combust,” he told CBS Los Angeles. “I just wanted to get him out safely so that the situation wouldn’t erupt into a fire.”
Ford and Flockhart at the 73rd Annual Golden Globe Awards, 2016. David Fisher/Shutterstock
He added: “It was obvious by his face, it was Harrison Ford. I’m old enough, or young enough, to have watched all his Star Wars films. So, it was obvious.”
In addition to his time in the air, Ford is still dominating the big — and small — screen. He stars opposite Helen Mirren in the Yellowstone prequel 1923, which is currently airing its first season. Season 2 was announced earlier this month.
Ford told The Hollywood Reporter that showrunner Taylor Sheridan has yet to give him any insight on how season 2 will differ from the first. “I haven’t got a f—king clue,” Ford quipped.
The Blade Runner star will also put on the famed Indy hat once more in the upcoming Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, which is expected to premiere in July.
Despite Ford’s famously gruff attitude, he made sure to tell fans — some of whom believed his demeanor stems from social anxiety — that he doesn’t “have a social anxiety disorder. I have an abhorrence of boring situations,” he told THR.
Still, he admitted, the first time he stepped on stage, “I was f—king terrified. My knees would shake so badly, you could see it from the back of the theater.” Ford clarified, “But that’s not social anxiety. That’s being unfamiliar with the territory. I was able to talk myself through that and then enjoy the experience of being onstage and telling a story with collaborators.”