Black-ish star Jenifer Lewis has spoken about her near-death experience after falling off a 10-foot balcony while on holidays two years ago.
Lewis, 67, opened up for the first time about the experience with ABC’s Good Morning America host Robin Roberts to speak about the accident and her recovery.
Lewis explained that she went on a trip to Africa to celebrate the conclusion of the sitcom, which ran from 2014 until 2022, after eight seasons.
Lewis said: “I was going to retire and move back home. I had conquered a dream. I had travelled around the world, and life was wonderful.”
Having visited Cape Town and Rwanda in November 2022,, Lewis then made her way to the Serengeti.
“When the sun sets in the Serengeti, there are no streetlights. It is pitch black,” she explained. “I was escorted to the lodge, my room, but I wasn’t given a tour. I should’ve been given tour. I laid out my safari clothes, and I saw the infinity pool out on my deck, so I went out.
“I was just taking in the fact that I was back in the Serengeti once again, and I’m walking, and all of a sudden – bam – I had fallen 10 feet into a dry ravine full of boulders and stones and sharp rocks.”
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Lewis said part of the balcony had not been “sectioned off”, nor a sign cautioning of the drop.
“Of course, I was in shock. My right hip took the impact, my shoulder went up against a stone. A lightning bolt went through my mind’s eye right here. In pitch black, I didn’t know I was falling. Nothing would move. So, 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,” she continued.
“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.’”
During the interview, images and videos charting Lewsis’ recovery in hospital are shown. Lewis explained she went onto make a full recovery and has recently appeared in Jennifer Lopez’s latest, This Is Me…Now: A Love Story.