10 Celebrities Who Were Shot – And Survived: Their Amazing Stories

James Garner led several hit films, including The Great Escape, The Wheeler Dealers, and Maverick.

James Garner sustained gunshot wounds twice while serving in the Korean War as a U.S. Army member before his career in Hollywood. He ended up receiving two Purple Hearts for his service.

The Notebook star was found dead at his Los Angeles home on July 19, 2014. His health went through ups and downs before his passing, with the award-winning star suffering from a chronic knee problem, stroke, and coronary artery disease.

Jennifer O'Neill shocked the industry when reports about police responding to her estate in New York in 1982 emerged. According to media outlets, the authorities found the Scanners actress alone in the second-floor bedroom of her house. She had a gunshot wound in the stomach, leading the responders to rush her to a nearby hospital.

The New York Times said she underwent surgery at Northern Westchester Medical Center in Mount Kisco after sustaining a single wound from a handgun.

"We're looking at the fact that it probably is an accidental shooting," Detective Charles W. Sammann of the Bedford police said during the news conference.

"At this time, we do not believe it's a murder attempt," he continued. "I'm not going to speculate or theorize on what happened until either I or someone else speaks directly with Miss O'Neill."

Police officers soon found out she accidentally shot herself with the .38 caliber revolver while checking if it was loaded.

John Travolta's late wife, Kelly Preston, had troubles when she was still engaged to Charlie Sheen. In 1989, the former couple called it quits after a gunshot incident changed the course of their relationship.

Reports claimed Sheen shot Preston, but both denied the speculation. The Sky High star told TMZ in 2011 that what happened was an accident. Sheen shared similar statements in his interview, detailing how it became a freak event.

"I was downstairs early in the morning making coffee and I thought she was still asleep upstairs," Sheen said during his My Violent Torpedo of Truth Tour. "And I heard a f------ gunshot go off. I thought, 'She did it, she finally f------ did it. She killed herself and they're going to f------ blame me.'"

He continued, "She explained to me that when she lifted my pants off the scale in the bathroom...the tiny revolver I used to carry...it fell out of the back jeans pocket and hit the floor and shot a bullet right between her legs. So she got hit with shrapnel from the toilet bowl."

Preston ultimately died in July 2020 after her battle against breast cancer.

Megan Thee Stallion revealed the shocking details of the shooting incident involving Tory Lanez, saying her fellow rapper shot him in the foot in July 2020. Some reports said she sustained the injuries after getting in contact with a broken glass.

The HISS hitmaker said Lanez fired the gun at the back of her feet after leaving a party at Kylie Jenner's Hollywood Hills home.

A trial to determine Lanez's responsibility over the case began, ending with a ruling against the She Make It Clap Freestyle rapper.

"Sometimes good people do bad things," Los Angeles Superior Court Judge David Herriford said. "Actions have consequences, and there are no winners in this case."

Before focusing on his career as a director, Oliver Stone served the country in Vietnam during the war. In 1967, he was shot in the neck and sustained injuries when he got hit with shrapnel in his legs and bottom.

"Exposing myself to the enemy, I moved up quickly on a one-man spider hole between our two platoons — from which I sensed someone had just fired," the BAFTA-winning filmmaker said. "On instinct, from 15 yards out, I pulled the pin on my grenade and hurled it. It was a crazy risk. If I'd overthrown the grenade, it probably would've wounded or killed some of our own men crouched beyond the hole."

Peter Fonda almost lost his life on his 11th birthday when he accidentally shot himself in the chest with his father's handgun. He was reportedly trying to clean it when the incident happened.

Doctors thought the bullet hit his heart, but they discovered it only passed through it and grazed it.

He died in 2019 following his battle against lung cancer.

In February 1994, Trace Adkins' then-wife nearly killed him during an argument when she accidentally shot him in the heart.

Adkins and Julie Curtis were reportedly fighting over his excessive drinking when she pointed a .38 pistol at him. When the country star tried stopping her, she pulled the trigger and left him with a bullet that went through his heart and lungs.

"It wasn't my time to go," he opened up to People. "It was painful, but it didn't sear my memory. The physical pain — broken bones and surgeries and bullets and getting beat up and cut — has never really bothered me. I have a high tolerance for it. It's the broken hearts that left the deepest scars."

Vanilla Ice had several near-death experiences, including during the early days of his career.

In his interviews, he revealed he dodged bullets with another rapper after a South Dallas show. While he did not disclose the exact date it happened, the 56-year-old Ice Ice Baby hitmaker remembered seeing the shooter barefoot and firing from the shoulder.

Fortunately, he did not sustain any gunshot wounds at the time.

Willie Nelson got his nickname "Shotgun Willie" after he found out that his daughter, Lana, was being abused by her husband. He drove to her place afterward and fired at the place with a .22 rifle, making his son-in-law drive away — though he still came back.

No one was injured at the time.