Emilio Estevez Recalls How Laurence Fishburne Saved His Life While Dad Martin Sheen Filmed 'Apocalypse Now'

Emilio Estevez says he and Laurence Fishburne "had only known each other a couple days" before Fishburne saved him from drowning in a river in the Philippines

Emilio Estevez is recounting the day Laurence Fishburne saved his life.

As Estevez, 60, appeared on The Jennifer Hudson Show Tuesday alongside his father Martin Sheen, the father-son actor duo told host Jennifer Hudson about how Fishburne, 61, saved Estevez from drowning in a river in the Philippines while Estevez visited his dad on the set of 1979's Vietnam War epic Apocalypse Now.

"Well we had only known each other a couple of days, and this was in the Philippines," Estevez recalled, after Hudson asked him to recall the story. "He says, 'Hey there's this little boat, let's go out on it,' and I said, 'Sure.' "

"So we were out on this boat together and we started getting too close to the shore and I said, 'Well let me jump out, I'll push us off shore,' " the actor continued, noting that he and Fishburne were both teens at the time. "I jumped out and it was like quicksand mud and I was just sinking... I saw Fishburne looking at me just saying, 'Grab my hand!' He pulled me back up."

"We were bonded ever since," Estevez added of his friendship with Fishburne, who played a supporting part in Francis Ford Coppola's famous war movie starring Sheen, now 82.

Related:Martin Sheen Admits Changing His Name from Ramon Estévez Is 'One of My Regrets'

Sheen, who starred in Apocalypse Now as a military officer tasked with tracking down and killing another rogue officer, reminded the talk show host and her audience that he did not know about the near-deadly incident concerning his son until decades after it happened.

"Mind you, we wrote a father-son memoir together not too long ago, and I found out about this incident when I read the book. I didn't have a clue," Sheen said. "And I called Mr. Fishburne to thank him for saving my son's life."

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Tuesday's appearance on Hudson's talk show was not the first time Sheen has acknowledged the incident publicly; in 2021, Sheen recalled that he "didn't know about it until about 30 years later" during an appearance on Daily Blast Live.

Related:Martin Sheen's Life in Photos

"Emilio never mentioned it, but yeah it's true," Sheen said at the time. "I think Emilio was about 12 or 13, and Larry was 14. "They became fast friends and they were out in the boat one day and the boat got stuck, and Emilio got out of the boat to clear the area and he began to sink into the mud."

In 2012, Sheen spoke about the incident during a panel discussion at the Hudson Union Society alongside Estevez, where he said his son's near-drowning took place the first day the father-son duo arrived in the Philippines to begin shooting the film.

"He never mentioned it, nor did Laurence. This knowledge had never, ever been known to us," Sheen said at the time. "But he pulled him out from a lake… I need to thank Laurence for that because it was a very good thing to do and it grew to be very profitable as well."

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