Graham Norton Says Being Stabbed and Left For Dead Drastically Changed His Life for the 'Better'

In a candid revelation, popular talk show host and entertainer Graham Norton opened up about a life-altering event that occurred 35 years ago. The incident, a violent mugging that left Norton stabbed and near death, ultimately changed his perspective on life for the better. Remembering the harrowing attack that took place in 1989 as he walked home in northwest London, Norton shared that he lost half his blood in the assault. The then-drama student, now a global TV and radio star, initially did not realize the severity of his injuries due to the adrenaline rush.

In a similar interview as per the Daily Mail, Norton was questioned about the worst experience of his life, to which he shared, “Getting stabbed in 1989. I lost half my blood. The bad moment I remember—because when it’s happening, it's all just trauma—but then the morning after I was in the hospital ward and I remember a nurse came up to me and said, ‘Do you want us to contact anyone? Do you want us to contact your parents?”

He further added, “In my head, I was thinking, ‘Well, I don’t want to worry my parents, but equally if I’m going to die, they’d probably like to come and say goodbye to me because they’d be annoyed if I didn’t tell them.’ So I said to the nurse, ‘Am I going to die?’ And she went, ‘Erm...’ And I was like, ‘Don’t pause. This is not the place to pause. This is quite serious. So that was bad. But the positive of it was that I was probably in my mid  to late 20s. I was going to a third-year drama school, and there were a lot of people crying, running into toilets, and slamming doors. And I was just sitting there going, ‘I’m alive. I’m good. I’m golden.’ So, in a way, it kind of changed my life for the better.”

As per Mirror's sources, the heartbreaking incident changed Norton's perspective on trivial issues, and he began appreciating life for what it was. Adding another unique twist, Norton revealed that his boyfriend at the time ended their relationship the day after the stabbing.

Intriguingly, Norton shared that this was not the only encounter he had with knives. After several years, he faced another threat outside a club, “I did have someone pull a knife on me again a few years after the first stabbing, but there were people around, and it was fine; it was outside a club. Somebody wanted money and had a knife. And what’s so sad about the knife crime now is that everyone is a victim in the end.”

However, Norton has come a long way since then. Talking about his new role on Wheel of Fortune, he exclaimed, “I'm beyond excited to be bringing such an iconic American show to a new British audience. My first ever TV job was a game show on ITV, so this feels like coming full circle. You might even call it a wheel!”