Shark Week and films like Sharknado and Jaws are proof that we are all fascinated by sharks.
The majority of us find sharks to be terrifying, but we can safely avoid getting too close to them.
However, a few famous people have interacted directly with the hazardous animals.
David Hasselhoff
David Hasselhoff saw a tiger shark, one of the ocean’s most dangerous sharks, while filming “David Hasselhoff’s Sharkwatch,” a series of movies for The Underwater Channel.
Hasselhoff discussed the experience with Hello! Magazine, describing how little he felt in the water next to the shark and how horrified he was when he saw its open mouth and seemingly endless rows of fangs.
“A large female tiger shark, measuring about 10 feet long, suddenly loomed in my direction. Despite being 6 feet tall and not particularly light, I felt like she only saw me as a snack “Hasselhoff said to the publication. “She let out a massive yawn. I could only make out rows of gleaming teeth with razor-sharp edges. I kept the bait out in the hopes that she would be satisfied. When the shark opened her mouth, I confessed to Mark (the show’s expert) that I was more terrified than ever.”
Fortunately, Hasselhoff’s bait ploy worked, and he was able to swim away unharmed from the tiger shark.
Leonardo DiCaprio
Leonardo DiCaprio talked about the time he got locked in a diving cage with a great white shark in a 2014 interview with Ellen DeGeneres, something he claims had never happened in the 30 years a scuba diving firm has offered this experience.
“I was extremely afraid of sharks when we went scuba diving in search of them. Additionally, it was wonderful when I was trapped in a cage with a great white when filming “Blood Diamond” in 2006 “The actor said Ellen. “It excelled. This enormous huge white was in the cage with me.”
He continued by saying that the shark got himself locked in the cage while trying to eat some tuna that had become stuck at the top of the cage for some reason.
“It went into the cage with me, and half of its body was in and out,” DiCaprio explained. “And I flattened down at the bottom, and it was this far away, and it chomped a few times. But I survived it.”
Bethany Hamilton
When Bethany Hamilton was bitten by a shark at the age of 13, she was well on her way to become a professional surfer.
In the shark attack, Hamilton lost her left arm, but only 26 days later was she back in the water. She achieved the unthinkable by working extremely hard and being dedicated to becoming a professional surfer.
In retrospect, she told CNN, “I see all the beauty and wonderful that has come from losing my arm that I wouldn’t change life to be how I think it should be but rather simply embracing life as it is.”
Hamilton claims that during difficult times, her religion kept her going.
“When tough times come my way,” Hamilton told CNN, “I definitely rely on my faith in God and just be like, ‘Hey God, I don’t know why I lost my arm, but I’m going to trust you and know that good can come from this situation.’”
Hayden Panettiere
On “Jimmy Kimmel Live,” Hayden Panettiere referred to herself as a shark magnet. She asserts that whenever she is in the ocean, whether swimming or paddleboarding, a shark appears. She continued by recounting a particularly terrifying scuba diving incident.
“This safety diver entered the water to snap shots of my mother and brother, who were wearing fins. And I didn’t have my fins on, so I couldn’t put my fins in the shark’s face when it got too near. They start shouting, “Shark, right behind you,” all of a sudden,” Panettiere said to Kimmel.
She managed to escape the situation unscathed, though undoubtedly not in the most secure manner.
“I swam to save my life. They were yelling at us because swimming away from a shark and making a lot of splashing noises is the worst thing to do “She spoke up. “Guys, you yelled “shark,” so how else do people react? I was like that. I returned to the boat almost on water.”
John Krasinski and Emily Blunt
On their honeymoon, John Krasinski and his wife Emily Blunt went scuba diving and encountered a shark. On “The Ellen DeGeneres Show,” Krasinski revealed that the only way he was able to persuade Blunt to go scuba diving was by assuring her they wouldn’t come across any sharks.
“Emily never wanted to learn scuba diving, and I was like, ‘We will never get into trouble with sharks,’ and I saw it, and Emily didn’t,” Krasinski said. “It was pretty scary.”
Ross Lynch
Ross Lynch made the decision to go snorkeling in Puerto Rico while taking a break from filming the Disney Channel original movie “Teen Beach Movie.”
After some time spent diving, Lynch and his companions came upon a shark that he said was “a good enough size to remove a limb.”
“We had been snorkeling for three hours and were a little out at sea when a shark began to swim closer to us. And we all panicked and clutched each other tightly “Lynch clarified.
Ross and his companions were fortunate that the shark ignored them and swam off without hurting them.
Will Smith
Will Smith agreed to swim with sharks for the Shark Week program “Will Smith: Off the Deep End” in an effort to overcome his anxieties. Smith had such a strong dread of sharks that he delayed learning to swim until he was well into his 40s.
Smith stated during the program, “I blame Steven Spielberg,” alluding to the 1975 movie “Jaws.” “In the bathtub, I was genuinely frightened. My impression was that a shark might actually emerge from the spout.”
“I am a firm believer that fear creates the greatest atrocities and evils that have ever been committed on this planet,” Smith said on the show. “Fear is poison, and I’m gonna cleanse mine.”
He called the experience life-changing, claiming “there was Will Smith before the sharks and there is Will Smith after the sharks.”
Ryan Kwanten
Despite having a traumatic shark encounter at the age of 12, Australian actor Ryan Kwanten began surfing at a young age and still does now.
“My hand went directly into a shark’s mouth when I tumbled from the crest of a wave, expecting to reach the sandbank. However, the shark was a woebegone, which has more gums than teeth. I was gummed, not bitten, but there are scars to show it “said Kwanten.