Have you ever wondered what you’d do if you were told you only had 10 minutes to live?
Jim Carrey has.
The very-much-still-alive Ace Ventura star has recalled the terrifying moment he was in that very predicament when a ballistic missile alert was broadcast in Hawaii.
The actor was on the island state in 2018 when the alert went off warning residents to take shelter from the warhead, ominously telling them: “This is not a drill”.
Carrey recounted the tale during an appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon to promote his book Memoirs And Misinformation – the cover of which is a picture of his face during those panic-stricken 10 minutes.
The 58-year-old said: “The cover is actually my face after being told I have 10 minutes to live. It was completely real to us.”
Carrey said he initially tried to get off the island before realising it would not be possible.
After saying his goodbyes, the actor looked out at the ocean for what he thought were his last minutes alive.
He said: “At that point I started going, ‘OK what can I do with this last moment of time’. I just decided to go through a list of gratitudes and honest to God I just could not stop thinking of wonderful things that have happened to me and blessings I’ve had.
“It was lovely. And I got to a point of grace at about two minutes to spare when I found out it wasn’t actually happening. All I was planning to do was close my eyes and be thankful because it’s been a good ride.”
Asked how he reacted when he discovered the alert had been sent in error, Carrey joked: “I got pissed off and heads rolled.”
The alert, which was transmitted on 13 January 2018, was blamed on a miscommunication during an exercise at the Hawaii Emergency Management Agency.
An employee was later fired.