8 Hollywood icons who narrowly escaped death in major disasters

9/11 is the worst terrorist atrocity in human history, claiming 2,996 lives on the day, and many more deaths arising from health issues caused by the collapse of the Twin Towers. However, three major celebrities were initially meant to be on planes hijacked or in the Twin Towers on the day of the attack.

Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane missed his flight on American Airlines Flight 11, which crashed into the North Tower after partying the night before and waking up with a hangover. Speaking to the Mirror years after the attacks, he said: “I was booked on that flight, and I was drinking the night before and hungover and I missed the plane by about 10 minutes. It was a very close call for me.”

The Fighter star Mark Wahlberg was also supposed to be on the same flight, but the day before the attacks, he and a group of friends changed their minds and instead headed to the Toronto Film Festival. Mark later caused controversy in 2012 by suggesting that he could have stopped the hijacking had he been on the flight. He later apologised for the remarks.

Meanwhile, according to the late pop star Michael Jackson’s brother, Jermaine, the Thriller singer was supposed to have a meeting in the Twin Towers on the day of the attack but overslept following a late night with his mother. In Jermaine’s memoir, You Are Not Alone Michael: Through a Brother’s Eyes, he wrote: “Thankfully, none of us had had a clue that Michael was due at a meeting that morning at the top of one of the Twin Towers.

“We only discovered this when Mother phoned his hotel to make sure he was okay. She, Rebbie [Jackson] and a few others had left him there around 3am. ‘Mother, I’m okay, thanks to you,’ he told her. ‘You kept me up talking so late that I overslept and missed my appointment’.”