Rachel Bilson in coma for two days after head-on car collision

Rachel Bilson in coma for two days after head-on car collision, By Mirror.co.uk Comments
Rachel Bilson on the car crash that changed her life
15 Feb 2008 02:00

As a 16-year-old in Los Angeles, Rachel Bilson was hanging around with the wrong crowd and dating an unsuitable boyfriend.

As a 16-year-old in Los Angeles, Rachel Bilson was hanging around with the wrong crowd and dating an unsuitable boyfriend.

But it took a miraculous escape from an horrific car crash to make her see the error of her ways and put her on the road to stardom.

“Everyone was lucky to have survived,” admits Rachel, who stars in the new thriller Jumper, out today.

“I was with my girlfriend and these two guys driving down the Pacific Coast Highway. We were going really fast and we were involved in a head-on collision with a truck. We were in a tiny car and it was a pretty bad crash. They had to cut us out and I was in a coma for a few days. The crash ended that relationship, which is a good thing.”

With the bad crowd dumped, Rachel, 26, threw herself into acting and landed her breakthrough part as bitchy Summer Roberts in the hit TV series The O.C.

The part brought her worldwide recognition and a new, more suitable boyfriend, in the shape of her co-star Adam Brody. The pair dated for more than two years but split last year. Since then, if rumours are to be believed, she has hooked up with another co-star. This time it is Hayden Christensen whom she met on the set of Jumper.

When we meet in her suite at London’s Dorchester Hotel, however, Rachel is coy about the Star Wars actor.

“I am happy in the relationship area. That’s all I will say,” she smiles. “We had a lot of fun working together and I got to kiss him.”

Jumper sees Christensen play a man who discovers he has the ability to teleport anywhere in the world, with Rachel as his girlfriend. But she almost missed out on the part

“I knew about the film, but I didn’t think I could do it because I was still filming the last part of The O.C.,” she says. “I went up to Toronto where they were shooting and managed to do both at the same time which is really rare. It was a lot of work but very rewarding.”

So if Rachel could teleport anywhere in the world, where would she go?

“I have been travelling so much for the promotion of this film – from Egypt to Rome, from Britain to New York – that, most of all, I would love to just jump home and sleep in my own bed and cuddle my dog,” she laughs.