Kristin Chenoweth’s Near-Death Accident Helped Her Find "God’s Grace"

Ten years on from the accident, Chenoweth has come to see forgiveness as an act of service both to others and to herself.

When the Tony and Emmy Award-winning actor Kristin Chenoweth was a guest star on The Good Wife back in 2012, a horrific accident on the set nearly cost her her life. A decade on, though, she has found a small silver lining—a renewed sense of her faith and a new attitude towards adversity.

Chenoweth had landed a coveted recurring role in Season 4 of the Chicago-based legal drama series when the terrifying accident took place. “I heard, like, a flagpole sound. I literally heard, ‘We’re losing the light.’ I heard, ‘Action.’ And I woke up at Bellevue [Hospital],” Chenoweth recalled, according to Variety. A piece of lighting equipment had fallen and landed on her head. The actor ended up with “seven-inch skull fracture, a hairline fracture, cracked teeth and ribs”. She also almost died, as she explained in her memoir, I’m No Philosopher, But I Got Thoughts, “My head cracked against the curb, leaving a seven-inch gash that would have been worse, the doctor told me, if not for the tightly woven hair extensions that held my scalp together. That’s right. I owed what was left of my concussed brain to a well-placed line of hair extensions. Never — never — underestimate the power of a good weave.”

Chenoweth was raised in the Christian faith and launched her singing career at her church in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma. However, during her long recovery, she struggled not only physically, but also spiritually. “The big question of ‘Why God me?’ When you find yourself asking God, ‘Why me?’ you can also then turn around and ask yourself, ‘Why not you?’” the Wicked star said in an interview with Today.

As Chenoweth recovered, she took time to assess her response to the trauma and adversity in general. “It was horrific and scary and awful,” she told Today. “Now, I could go on the path of bitterness and anger and I did for a while, I did. But I could let all that go. So guess what I’m going to choose?”

Ten years on from the accident, Chenoweth has come to see forgiveness as an act of service both to others and to herself. “I have started forgiving people that I feel have hurt me because I’m the one that’s hurting and that’s God’s grace,” she told Today. “He says, ‘See my child, if you’ve done this the whole time, you wouldn’t have carried that on your journey.’”

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