James McAvoy Recounts Near-Death Experience After Botched Lung Biopsy

Actor James McAvoy shared a harrowing account of a medical emergency that nearly cost him his life, detailing a "botched" lung biopsy that resulted in his lungs collapsing. The incident occurred after doctors detected a shadow on his lung and recommended a biopsy to check for cancer.

During an appearance on Dax Shepard's "Armchair Expert" podcast, McAvoy, 47, described the shock of the procedure going awry. "They saw a shadow in my lung, so they wanted to biopsy it to see if it was cancer, which it wasn't, which was great," he explained. "But that was botched, and I nearly died."

The health crisis escalated dramatically just two days after the biopsy when McAvoy experienced his lungs collapsing while he was alone at home. "My lungs just collapsed in bed one night. And I was on my own as well, so it was crazy," he recounted.

McAvoy was subsequently hospitalized for two to three weeks. During this time, medical staff attempted various treatments to clear his lungs, but with little success. He recalled the doctors suggesting a significant surgical intervention: "We're going to need to cut you open big style, go in with, like, dish soap basically and just clean you out, scoop it all out."

The recovery process presented further challenges, particularly as McAvoy had to prepare for his role in "Glass," the 2019 sequel to "Split." He reprised his role as Kevin Wendell Crumb, a character with multiple personalities, and was required to portray "The Beast" for much of the film, often in daylight scenes.

"Unlike ‘Split,’ I was ‘The Beast’ [for] most of the movie, and I was just outside in broad daylight as well," McAvoy said. "So I was like, ‘I’m really going to need to do the real thing. I’m going to need to go for it.' I remember saying to [M. Night Shyamalan], ‘You're going to need to get me a trainer.'"

Director M. Night Shyamalan offered to arrange for McAvoy to work with a trainer at a local gym. However, McAvoy sought more specialized assistance, telling Shyamalan he needed someone who could help him "look like a Greek f–king figure from mythology."

The actor found an exceptional trainer who first focused on rehabilitation, helping McAvoy regain his ability to walk and perform functional movements after his lung collapse. This phase was followed by a rapid muscle-building program. "The guy that worked me was amazing," McAvoy stated. "For the first four weeks, he rehabilitated me. I could walk, but I couldn’t run, couldn’t cycle, couldn’t jog … so he did a lot of rehabilitation and, sort of, functional movement, and then put the pounds on me really fast."

In a separate revelation, McAvoy also spoke about an experience on the set of "Band of Brothers," where he claimed a co-star "bullied" him on his first day as a professional actor. He described how several cast members reportedly laughed at him for several minutes. "He got him and his buddies to just stand pointing at me and laugh at me for, like, three minutes," McAvoy recalled.