James McAvoy reveals he nearly died after botched medical procedure in 2017

James McAvoy says botched lung biopsy in 2017 left him hospitalised for weeks before filming 'Glass'

Actor James McAvoy has revealed that he nearly died in 2017 after a medical procedure to investigate a shadow found on his lung went wrong, leaving him hospitalised for several weeks.

Speaking on Dax Shepard’s Armchair Expert podcast, the 47-year-old actor explained that doctors wanted to biopsy the shadow to determine whether it was cancerous. The results were negative, but he said the procedure caused a lung puncture.

“I had a lung puncture because they saw a shadow in my lung, so they wanted to biopsy it to see if it was cancer, which it wasn't, which was great,” McAvoy said.

“But that was botched, and I nearly died,” he added. “I was at home two days later, my lungs just collapsed in bed one night, and I was on my own as well, so it was crazy.”

McAvoy recalled spending “two or three weeks” in hospital while doctors attempted to treat the complications. After initial treatments failed, he said they considered a more invasive operation to clean out the affected area.

The health scare occurred before he filmed Glass, the sequel to the 2016 psychological thriller Split. In the film, McAvoy reprises his role as Kevin Wendell Crumb, a man with dissociative identity disorder whose personalities include the superhuman Beast.

McAvoy said he needed to regain his physical strength for the role, explaining that the Beast featured more prominently in the sequel. He recalled asking for a personal trainer to help him achieve the character’s muscular appearance.