Saltburn director Emerald Fennell reveals she was almost beheaded in a freak boating accident

Saltburn director Emerald Fennell has recalled the moment she was almost beheaded on a boat in Venice.

The Oscar winner first joked that she’s had “quite a lot” of near-death experiences so much so she sometimes fears she’s starring in a real-life adaption of the Final Destination horror franchise.

Discussing her terrifying near-brush with death, she revealed on Kathy Burke’s Where There’s A Will, There’s A Wake podcast that she was one inch away from being decapitated by a lose anchor.

The director recalled: “I nearly got beheaded on a boat.

“…This is probably the most glamorous thing that's ever happened to me in my life, I should say.

“I should caveat this with this is not the sort of thing that happens to me regularly. But I was staying in Venice. And a friend of mine who lives there was driving me to the airport in his boat.

“And because some other friends had been staying, they'd be the ones who'd put the anchor up on the boat and they hadn't put it inside the boat. They'd put it, I don't know any boat words, but the prow? The bit at the front […]

“And because we were late my friend didn't notice and I was sitting next to him he was driving it and we were going fast and we hit a little bump and the anchor I felt it go past my face half an inch yes half an inch it just went and he brilliantly stopped quickly enough for it to then kind of bounce away right into the water but again…”

To which a stunned Burke said: “It could have, one inch”, to which Fennell responded: “Oh, oh, oh, decapitated, completely decapitated, but then I thought again if I'm gonna go, decapitated, on a sexy boy's boat, in Venice.”

Where There's A Will, There's A Wake is available on Apple, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.