Graham Norton revealed that he had once asked a stranger to hold his hand after he was horrifically attacked over 30 years ago.
The 58-year-old television star was still in drama school when he was viciously stabbed and mugged while walking home in 1989.
While he managed to survive the terrifying ordeal, Graham admitted that he had sought the comfort of a stranger to help him through. He didn't realise at the time, that he was so close to dying.
Reflecting on the harrowing experience on Elizabeth Day's How to Fail podcast, the Eurovision commentator admitted that the experience has stuck with him to this very day but also helped him to be more fearless.
"I'm on this mat and I didn't know I was dying, I didn't figure it out until later, and this is so not me but I remember saying to this little old lady 'will you hold my hand'?" he said during the recent podcast appearance.
"And it was a flicker on her face of 'oh do I want to hold his hand' but she did and she held out her hand."
At first, Graham hadn't even noticed he had been stabbed during the altercation because his adrenaline was so high. The mugging - that took place in the early hours of a Friday morning in Kilburn - saw him lose a lot of blood, and it was very 'touch and go' whether he would survive.
Graham added: "I held her hand and I think that's something so deep within us and it motivates so much of our life that we don't want to die alone."
"I think so many decisions in our lives like having a partner and having children are about not being alone when you die. It's about having someone to hold your hand."
Graham went on to reveal that the experience has helped him cope with risk and failure throughout his career, dubbing it a 'powerful life lesson'.
"It gave me a really good attitude to risk and to failure because if you think of the worst-case scenario, no failure compares to dying. I'm not recommending anyone do it but for me it was a very useful and powerful life lesson," Graham added.
It turns out that his 1989 experience was not the last time that Graham came face to face with a knife.
Speaking previously to The Mirror, Graham revealed that he had a knife pulled on him a second time outside a club some years later. Luckily, there were lots of people around him and nothing happened.
Graham has since gone on to become a household name in UK television. He has also spoken out on occasion about the threat of knife crime across the country and previously revealed: "everyone is a victim" when there is a stabbing in the UK.
