A lot of guys would like to be Matthew McConaughey, but for a few months, Rory Curtis thought he was Matthew McConaughey.
It happened in August, 2012, when Curtis, 25, was in a car accident near his home in Redditch, Great Britain. He spent six days in a coma after suffering a brain hemorrhage in the crash.
When Curtis came to, he was so dazed and confused that he was convinced he was McConaughey.
“I cannot remember much but I know in my head I thought I was Matthew McConaughey,” he said, according to the Daily Mail. “When I went to the toilet I went to look in the mirror and I was shocked because I didn’t look like him, I didn’t know what I was looking at. Then slowly over time it eventually clicked and I thought ‘He is an actor, what am I on about?'”
Still, there were times before his release in November, that Curtis would be in the hospital wishing he could go back to making movies.
“I was convinced I was him and that I had his good looks as well — I know it was hopeful thinking really,” he said, according to the paper.
It took a while before Curtis felt, in the words of McConaughey, “alright, alright, alright.”
Besides thinking he was McConaughey, something else strange occurred to Curtis in the accident’s aftermath: He could suddenly speak French fluently.
“I don’t remember coming round but my family said one of the nurses was from Africa and spoke French and I was having conversations with her,” he said, according to the Mirror. “I was just casually chatting away about how I was feeling in this perfect French accent.”
“My mum and dad were stunned when they got to hospital and the nurse asked them what side of the family was French. And then I was sitting there spouting a foreign language from my hospital bed acting all French. It wasn’t me at all.”
Curtis left the hospital in November, 2012, no longer thinking he was a famous Hollywood actor, but still needing months of rehab.
Even after his recovery, Curtis retained his ability to speak French.
Now he’s training to be a barber and is trying to lead a normal life.
“Because I don’t remember the crash, it doesn’t feel like I’ve had a brain injury. Apart from obviously being able to now speak French,” he said, according to the Telegraph. “The accident changed my outlook on life. I can’t leave the house now without telling everyone I love them and giving them a hug.”
Source: Huffingtonpost.com