Danny DeVito Almost Drowned During Family Vacation

[Brian Damage]

Actor Danny DeVito will never forget his family vacation to Costa Rica earlier this year - because he nearly drowned and then inadvertently flashed an entire beach. The diminutive star was on the beach with his wife Rhea Perlman and children when he decided to go into the sea so he could urinate.

The 62-year-old recalls, "I go out (into the sea) and I look back at the shore and there's people setting up their blankets and stuff and a smile comes over my face and everything's good. And then I start to come in, and a wave comes at me, and then another wave comes from the back of me and I'm a strong swimmer but really struggling now. It's like what they call rip tide. I'm pushing as hard as I can and now my arms are starting to feel like Rocky Balboa in the last round. I'm getting churned like in a washing machine. I start choking on water (and think), 'I'm drowning, this is what it's like to drown!'

"So I yell, 'Help!' and my son sees it and so does the guy who was bringing the surfboards with him. Rhea jumps up, the guys come down, give me the surfboard and I grab onto it like a cod fish. And I'm churning and I can't touch (the ground) because I'm in five foot of water. They're OK, so they pull me out and I finally get my footing and I'm choking and I'm coughing. And Rhea's running at me with a towel. And I say, 'Rhea, I'm choking, I don't need a towel.' She says, "Yes, you do. You don't have a bathing suit on.'"