Darius Rucker is opening up about his life in his new memoir Life's Too Short. In addition to opening up about his substance abuse and past traumas, Rucker is also revealing a near-death experience. It turns out that A-Lister Woody Harrelson saved Rucker's life after he almost drowned.
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The two are good friends with each other apparently. "At Woody's, if you want to go swimming, you don't simply slip on your trunks and dive into the pool. Way more complicated than that. We begin our swim by climbing down a jagged cliff — very slowly and carefully, inch by inch," Rucker wrote. He stayed for two weeks with the actor in Hawaii.
The two climbed down the jagged cliff and found themselves at a small beach. It was just Rucker, Harrelson, and their friend Kirk. The three decided to go swimming. "I'm better than a decent swimmer. I'm a strong, confident swimmer," Rucker wrote. However, he quickly lost sight of his friends as well as land. A rip current pulled him under.
Darius Rucker Almost Drowned
"The current is ferocious. I feel as if some horrific giant squid has lashed itself around my body. Circling and tightening its tentacles around my legs, dragging me under the water. I gulp and I gasp and I keep fighting," Rucker wrote. "I fight and flail for I have no idea how long — ten minutes, fifteen — and then I hear a voice. Woody. I can't see him, but I hear him. He's not far."
Harrelson grabbed Rucker from the water, and the two ended up drifting in the ocean. Rucker thought he was dying, feeling himself "drifting away." He experienced both a blinding white light and visions of his mother. "The words leak out of my mouth, one at a time, each syllable a tiny jab of air, causing me to gasp. I blow out a final burst of words. 'This is it,'" Rucker wrote. Harrelson and Kirk pulled Rucker from the water, saving his life.
Rucker doesn't remember how he ended up on the beach, calling the moment a big blank spot. "All I know for sure is that somehow Woody pulls me out of the current and he and Kirk drag me back to the beach because here I am, twenty-five years later," he shared. As for him and Harrelson, how they met is also a mystery, but the two are good friends.
"Truth is, everybody wants to be friends with Woody," Rucker wrote. "He's kind, generous, fun, and mellow."
