Kristin Chenoweth Discusses "Good Wife" Injury, Calls Josh Charles Her "Angel"
09/07/2012


Kristin Chenoweth stopped by "Live! with Kelly and Michael" and opened up about the injuries suffered on set of "The Good Wife".

"When something falls from the sky and onto your head, and you don’t know it’s coming, the good news is, for anyone who dies quickly, they don't know what happened to them," Chenoweth said.





Chenoweth explained that a lighting fixture fell on her, knocking her out and slamming her to the ground where her head hit a curb. She was knocked unconscious and came to as EMTs and "Good Wife" star Josh Charles were attending to her injuries, which included a skull fracture "a neck issue and a rib issue."

"He's my angel," Chenoweth told Kelly Ripa and Michael Strahan about Charles. "He was there and held my hand." Chenoweth was filming a scene with Charles when the accident occurred.





The Emmy winner will appear in the Sept. 30 premiere of "The Good Wife", but bowed out of the recurring role as a political journalist. She recently tweeted that she returned to the set and filmed a new scene with Alan Cumming, but it's unclear as to whether it will be part of the premiere or appear in a later episode.

Chenoweth said she's still experiencing some residual affects of the head injury, such as word retrieval problems, and she still wears a neck brace from time to time.

"We're glad you're here on Earth," Ripa told the pint-sized actress. "So am I," Chenoweth replied.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/09/07/kristin-chenoweth-the-good-wife-injuries-josh-charles_n_1865270.html?

Wow, that's really scary but so sweet of Josh Charles to take care of her. I hope she's better now and it would be nice to see her on the show again!

Kristin Chenoweth tried to keep her 2012 The Good Wife accident quiet because she feared being viewed as weak and didn’t want to be “a problem” for CBS (https://www.marieclaire.com/culture/kristin-chenoweth-my-moment-excerpt/)

Chenoweth recounts the July 11, 2012 accident (https://ew.com/article/2012/07/11/kristin-chenoweth-injured-good-wife-set/) that left her hospitalized and with years of injuries in My Moment: 106 Women on Fighting for Themselves, a new collection of essays that will be released on May 24. "As I stood on my mark, awaiting the next shot, a piece of lighting equipment crashed down on top of me and knocked me back into a curb," Chenoweth writes in an excerpt published by Marie Claire. "I was rushed by ambulance to Bellevue Hospital in Manhattan. My injuries were severe. My ribs were cracked. My nose and some of my teeth were broken, and I had a skull fracture. And those were just the injuries that actually showed up on X-rays; never mind the nerve, tissue, and muscle damage I’d have to face in the weeks, months, and years that followed. Although there was a good deal of media interest in the accident, I tried to keep it all very quiet. There were a couple of reasons why. I didn’t want to be viewed as weak. In the entertainment industry, as is the case with so many other lines of work, when someone considers hiring you for a part, they want to know that you’re ready to run. Ready to work the long hours. Ready and able to push as far as 'getting the job done' might require." She adds: "So I kept the extent of my injuries quiet because if I let the truth get out about how badly I was hurt, it would certainly cause me to be seen as weak and broken. And when you’re a woman in this industry, that perception of weakness is inherently baked into the cake from day one. I didn’t want to feed into that negative stereotype. The other reason I kept it quiet is because I didn’t want to be 'a problem' for CBS. I was advised by a couple of folks on my team and outside of my team too that it would be unwise to attempt to hold CBS accountable for what was clearly their responsibility. I mean, actors have worked entire careers in film and TV without pieces of heavy gear falling on them. Imagine that." CBS declined to comment.

Kristin Chenoweth regrets not suing over Good Wife injury, says hair extensions saved her life (https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/kristin-chenoweth-regrets-not-suing-162241346.html)

Kristin Chenoweth is singing the blues about not seeking legal action after sustaining injuries while filming The Good Wife in 2012.

The actress, whose new novel I'm No Philosopher, But I Got Thoughts was released today, visited Watch What Happens Live and revealed that she wished she had sued CBS after the incident, which she said "practically killed" her.

"I didn't do it out of fear and anxiety, so don't ever let fear rule your life. I have long-standing injuries from that," she said. "I wished I had listened to my dad, who said, 'You're gonna wanna do this.' And we're not the suing family, but when you're practically killed…"

Chenoweth joined the CBS drama in 2012 and was set to star as a recurring character when she was struck by a piece of lighting equipment while filming a scene in Brooklyn. Following the accident, Chenoweth announced her departure from The Good Wife due to her injuries.

"I heard, like, a flagpole sound. I literally heard, 'We're losing the light.' I heard, 'Action.' And I woke up at Bellevue [Hospital]," she told host Andy Cohen. "It hit me in the face and it threw me into a curb. Seven-inch skull fracture, hairline [fracture], and teeth and ribs."

While she was treated on set by the show's medical staff until EMS services arrived, Chenoweth noted that she actually received life-saving aid from a very unexpected source.

"My hair extensions, you know, made the hairline fracture go together. My doctor said, 'What are these metal things?' And I said, 'They're hair extensions.' And he said, 'They saved your life,'" she joked. "So, anyone who wants to get hair extensions should, for your health."

Chenoweth previously discussed the accident in the 2022 essay collection My Moment: 106 Women on Fighting for Themselves, in which she said she didn't take legal action at the time because she didn't want it to negatively affect her career.

"I was advised by a couple of folks on my team and outside of my team too that it would be unwise to attempt to hold CBS accountable for what was clearly their responsibility," she wrote, per an excerpt obtained by Marie Claire. "I was told that I'd never work again if I sued a major network. And that scared me. I let fear take over and did what so many people do — especially women — in the face of going up against someone or something more powerful than they are. I shrunk."

She continued, "I'm telling my story about what happened, and I really don't care if CBS never hires me again. They knew I was hurt really badly, but they exploited the power they held over a person like me. I'm a working actor — keyword working. Unfortunately, the powers that be at CBS at the time did not take responsibility for what happened to me, but there's a new regime at the network and they're just lovely to work with. Leadership matters. Full stop."

Terrible. I did not know that!