Benedict Cumberbatch has reflected on a terrifying incident that happened 21 years ago when he was briefly abducted.
During an interview with Variety, the actor shared the shocking details of being attacked while filming the BBC miniseries To The Ends Of The Earth in South Africa in 2004. While out on a drive with friends, Benedict and his companions were stopped by six men who robbed and abducted them. According to the report, they were “forced into the car and driven around for hours.” Although eventually released, the group was tied up and ordered to sit execution-style before the attackers fled the scene.
Benedict described how the traumatic episode shaped his outlook on life, saying, “It gave me a sense of time, but not necessarily a good one. It made me impatient to live a life less ordinary, and I’m still dealing with that impatience.”
The frightening ordeal left a lasting impact, even turning Cumberbatch into a self-proclaimed adrenaline junkie. “The near-death stuff turbo-fuelled all that. It made me go, ‘Oh, right, yeah, I could die at any moment.’ I was throwing myself out of planes, taking all sorts of risks,” he admitted.
However, a shift in perspective came with family life. Benedict explained, “Apart from my parents, I didn’t have any real dependents at that point. Now that’s changed, and that sobers you. I’ve looked over the edge; it’s made me comfortable with what lies beneath it. And I’ve accepted that that’s the end of all our stories.”
The “dependents” he mentioned are his wife, Sophie Hunter, and their three children—Christopher (9), Hal (7), and Finn (6). The couple has been married since 2015 and now treasures the secure and grounded life they’ve built together.
