Unsuccessful Lawyer
Before his acting career, Butler was a promising lawyer and even graduated with honors from the prestigious University of Glasgow law school. He was the president of the student law society and interned at one of Edinburgh's leading law firms.However, a week before obtaining full legal qualification, he was fired due to frequent absences and alcohol abuse (he started drinking after his father died of cancer). After seeing a play based on Irvine Welsh's novel "Trainspotting," he realized he had taken the wrong path, and at 25, he moved to London to start building his acting career from scratch.
Fighting Addiction
According to zoomboola.com, Butler has been battling alcohol addiction for over 15 years. He first tried alcohol at the age of 13, and by the time he graduated from university, it had become a serious problem. After being dismissed from a law firm, he spent two weeks in the States, where his behavior became so uncontrollable that he was arrested for disorderly conduct. This incident was a turning point—since then, the actor has completely given up alcohol and has been living a sober life for over 20 years.
Rock Star
In his youth, Butler was the vocalist of the rock band Speed, which performed in Glasgow pubs. The band even recorded several demo tracks and gained a modest but dedicated fan base.Later, during the filming of "The Phantom of the Opera," Butler took singing lessons from a famous opera singer and performed all the songs in the film himself, despite not having a formal musical education.
Child Rescue
In 1997, Butler performed a heroic act. While walking in Tower Bridge Park in London, he heard cries for help and ran toward the sound. A teenager was drowning in the Thames. Gerard immediately jumped into the cold water and pulled the boy to shore. For this act, he was awarded a Certificate of Bravery from the Royal Humane Society, yet he never publicized the incident and only spoke about it many years later.Injuries on Set
Throughout his acting career, Butler, who always tried to perform all stunts himself, sustained many serious injuries. The most serious incident occurred on the set of "Olympus Has Fallen." During the filming of a chase scene, the actor suffered a compression fracture of the spine in two places. Despite the severe pain, he continued filming and only underwent a lengthy rehabilitation course after the shoot ended—it turned out he had broken two vertebrae. This injury still affects him, and he has to regularly do special exercises.Close Call
In 2011, during the filming of "Chasing Mavericks," Gerard Butler nearly died at Mavericks Beach in California. While filming a surfing scene, a series of powerful waves about 12 meters high hit him. He was dragged across underwater rocks and held underwater for nearly a minute.The rescue team, stationed nearby on jet skis, couldn't reach him immediately. When Butler was finally pulled out, he was semi-conscious. He was urgently taken to the hospital. According to the actor himself, it was the scariest moment of his life—he was sure he wouldn't survive. After this incident, filming had to be halted for several weeks, and some scenes were completed with stand-ins.
Interestingly, this incident occurred during the filming of a biographical movie about real-life surfer Jay Moriarity, who later tragically died at this very location during training.
Charity Without Publicity
For many years, Butler has been secretly supporting a children's hospice in Glasgow, regularly making substantial donations and visiting sick children. He is also an ambassador for the international charity Mary's Meals, which provides school meals to children in the poorest countries in the world. The actor consistently avoids publicity in his charitable activities and never uses them to promote his image.Read more about Gerard Butler's life journey in his biography.
