Barry Keoghan harrowingly details near-death experience after drug overdose
Barry Keoghan has opened up about a harrowing near-death experience he had after a drug overdose in London that saw him flat-line momentarily.
The Saltburn actor recently appeared on the video series, Friends Keep Secrets, hosted by music producer Benny Blanco, Lil Dicky (real name Dave Burd), and Dave’s wife, Kristin Batalucco.
When discussing various skin conditions on the show, the Bird actor noted that one of his scars was due to “psychosis”. Blanco asked what kind of psychosis the actor meant, and Keoghan clarified that he experienced psychosis “from drugs,” but he was now two-and-a-half years clean.
The star explained that he had been surrounded by drugs his whole life: “My mum died at 32 of heroin, my dad passed away… But the curiosity of still wanting to do this from me is, like, it took me three attempts of rehab.”
Eventually, Keoghan found a way out of his suffering: “There was a sudden switch, and it was when I was 32, you know, same age as my mum… I was like that’s it, I’m not doing it,” he recalled.
When asked if he still drinks alcohol, the actor admitted that, formerly, he would “try to justify it by going ‘maybe I’ll be off the drink for a while’, but now I’d like to think I’m allergic to alcohol because my reaction is cocaine and that reaction can make me die.”
Following up the confession, Keoghan admitted that he “technically did die for a few seconds” when overdosing in London.
Keoghan detailed what he saw when he flat-lined: “There was this sort of image, the fields and the wind, but there was this girl walking away and she wouldn’t look back. She had blonde hair, but she was walking away, and I kept calling her, and she just kept walking, and I wanted to see who it was.”
The haunting vision continued, “It was almost like she was walking away to get me to follow, and on this side was like council flats […] in black and white, and the other side was in colour. [On the black and white side] there was loads of lads stabbing me and trying to push me over.”
He added, “Obviously, the doctors doing the work on me was what I was feeling, but in the vision they were stabbing me and pushing me and I was holding onto them, […] I was begging them that I could stay.”
The 33-year-old, who is now healthy, recently landed the biggest role of his career so far, after it was announced that he will take on Ringo Starr’s likeness in the four upcoming Beatles biopics directed by Sam Mendes.
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