Jennifer Lawrence Reveals She Was Mentally Preparing to Die Amid Private Plane Emergency Landing

In June 2017, Jennifer Lawrence was traveling in a private plane that was forced to make an emergency landing due to engine failure. Years later, Lawrence is opening up about the situation during an interview with Vanity Fair. While reflecting on the ordeal, the actor said that she had to mentally prepare herself for the worst. 

At the time of the incident, Lawrence was leaving her hometown of Louisville, Kentucky. Trouble soon arose once she was in the air on a private flight. When the plane reached 31,000 feet in the air, one of the engines failed. The plane subsequently had to make an emergency landing, during which the second engine also failed. During her chat with Vanity Fair, Lawrence said that she and the others on board thought that they were going to die that day. 

“My skeleton was all that was left in the seat,” Lawrence recalled. “We were all just going to die. I started leaving little mental voicemails to my family, you know, ‘I’ve had a great life, I’m sorry.’” The Hunger Games star was then asked why she felt the need to say sorry, and she responded that she had some feelings of guilt. 

“Everybody was going to be so bummed,” she continued. “And, oh, God, [my dog] Pippi was on my lap, that was the worst part. Here’s this little thing who didn’t ask to be a part of any of this.” As they braced the runway for the emergency landing, Lawrence saw fire trucks and ambulances. At that moment, she started to pray. She explained, “Not to the specific God I grew up with, because he was terrifying and a very judgmental guy. But I thought, ‘Oh, my God, maybe we’ll survive this? I’ll be a burn victim, this will be painful, but maybe we’ll live.’” While the incident was four years ago, Lawrence still deals with the ramifications to this day. She said that the ordeal made her “a lot weaker” and that “flying is horrific and I have to do it all the time.”

Now, Lawrence is focusing on the positives in her life, like impending motherhood. In mid-September, it was reported that she is expecting her first child with her husband, Cooke Maroney. Lawrence and Maroney wed in October 2019. While Lawrence will welcome her first child soon, you likely won’t hear too many details about the little one. Elsewhere in her interview with Vanity Fair, she said that she wants to protect her child’s privacy for as long as possible. The actor said, “But every instinct in my body wants to protect their privacy for the rest of their lives, as much as I can. I don’t want anyone to feel welcome into their existence. And I feel like that just starts with not including them in this part of my work.”