Black star Jenifer Lewis, 67, admits she thought she was going to be eaten alive by a LION after she suffered a near-fatal 10ft fall in the Serengeti – recalling fears her body would ” flown back to the US in pieces’
Black star Jenifer Lewis feared she would be eaten alive by a lion when she fell 10ft into a ravine during a ‘trip of a lifetime’ to Africa’s Serengeti in November 2022.
The 67-year-old actress thought she had fallen to her death when she tumbled over the deck outside her hotel room in ‘pitch black’ and remembers her body hitting ‘blocks, stones and sharp rocks’ below.
During an exclusive interview on Good Morning America, Jenifer Robin Roberts told that as she lay on the ground ‘in shock’, she heard a lion roar and began to imagine being eaten alive and imagined ‘pieces’ of her body ‘ be flown back to states’.
Jenifer somehow managed to call her friend Lori – who was staying in a separate hotel room nearby – but admitted to 63-year-old Robin that it was ‘hard to even take a big breath to scream’.
Black star Jenifer Lewis feared she would be eaten alive by a lion when she fell 10ft into a ravine during a holiday in Africa
After the incident in November 2022, the actress ended up in the hospital fighting for her life
The 67-year-old spoke exclusively about the terrifying experience to Good Morning America host Robin Roberts
Jennifer explained that she was lying injured in the middle of the Serengeti, saying: ‘There are wild animals because when Lori turned on her flashlight down there, she didn’t know there was a cape buffalo ten feet away. And as Lori ran to get help, I heard a lion roar.
‘My last thought – because I’m Jenifer Lewis – was, “what a headline!” she cackled, before continuing: “The king ate the queen… pieces of Jenifer Lewis’ body are being flown back to the states,” as host Robin looked on sympathetically.
Recalling the night in question, Jenifer explained that she had been escorted to her cabin at the hotel and claimed she ‘didn’t get a tour’ and felt she should have been given one.
“The sun went down and when the sun goes down in the Serengeti, there are no street lights, it’s pitch black,” she said. ‘I laid out my safari clothes and I saw the infinity pool out on my deck so I went out.
‘I just realized I was back in the Serengeti again and I go and suddenly… boom! I had fallen ten feet into a dry ravine full of boulders and stones and sharp stones, Robin, I fell.’
Jenifer continued: ‘There was a room that wasn’t sectioned off and there was no sign that said, “Caution 10 foot drop,” when Robin asked her what ‘type of pain’ she was experiencing at that moment.
‘Well, of course I was in shock. My right hip took the hit, my shoulder went up against the rock, a bolt of lightning went through my mind right here. In pitch black I didn’t know I was falling and I said, “move your body baby. Come on Jenny, move”.’
Jenifer, who starred as Ruby Johnson in hit TV sitcom Black-ish from 2014 to 2022, described the past year as ‘the hardest’ and revealed to Robin that she kept her fall – and recovery – a secret because: ‘ I did it. ‘Didn’t want you to know I had fallen before I could show you how I got back up.’
Jenifer was on a ‘trip of a lifetime’ in the Serengeti when she saw her life flash before her eyes
Jenifer had stepped out onto her hotel lodge balcony to admire the infinity pool and fell over the edge into a ravine
The TV star fell onto boulders and sharp rocks and remembers it was ‘hard to even take a big breath to scream’
Jenifer endured a long road to recovery and described the past year as ‘the hardest’
Robin explained to her co-hosts how her sit-down interview with Jenifer came about late last year.
“She needed that time to herself because people were like, ‘where’s Aunt Jenny? Where’s Aunt Jenny?” Robin said, referring to Jenifer’s private recovery.
‘I mean she wasn’t on the social team and it was Niecy Nash, at the end of last year I was getting ready for the holidays, Niecy called and said, “you need to talk to Jenifer Lewis, she am writing this on social”.
“And Niecy said, ‘you can’t just post something like that, you have to share it,’ and then she connected us to talk, and I’m telling you, the special we put together just blows your mind, but it also makes you laugh because it’s Jenifer Lewis.’
The full interview with Jenifer Lewis airs on ABC News Live at 8:30 PM ET and Hulu tonight.