Russell Crowe found worldwide fame after he starred in 2000’s Gladiator movie, but along with it was an unforgettable and perhaps traumatic event of his life. Being an A-list actor in Hollywood at the time made him a major target of a terrorist group named Al-Qaeda.
Even years after the threat, Crowe was still clueless about what happened or what it was all about. He just knew he was surrounded by security guards wherever he went for about two years.
Russell Crowe Became The Target Of A Terrorist Group
In his 2015 interview with The Guardian, actor Russell Crowe admitted he was still in the dark about the incident that happened to him in 2001. There was a threat that the terrorist group, Al- Qaeda, led by Osama bin Laden, was planning to kidnap the actor.
I still really don’t know to this day what the f—k that was all about. All I know is, I arrived in LA, got to my hotel, as I’d done umpteen times before, started unpacking, and there was a knock at the door and a team of FBI guys wanted to sit down and discuss something with me.
He said that he was surrounded by 16 security guards for nearly two years, especially when he attended the Golden Globe Awards. He revealed they would not give him any details about what was happening. “And of course, people were like: ‘Look at him, he thinks he’s f—king Elvis.’ And then one day they just weren’t there anymore,” he added.
That would have been a nightmare for Crowe who became the target of a large organization led by one of the most notorious group leaders in the world. It is known that the Al-Qaeda had plans to seize high-profile celebrities.
Foiled Attempt At Kidnapping Russell Crowe Was Part Of Al-Qaeda’s “Cultural Destabilization Plan”
Crowe told GQ (via The Guardian) that it was “the first conversation in my life that I’d ever heard the phrase Al-Qaeda.” He reiterated that he never fully understood what was going on at the time the FBI authorities knocked on his door.
It was something to do with some recording picked up by a French policewoman, I think, in either Libya or Algiers. It was about – and here’s another little touch of irony – taking iconographic Americans out of the picture as a sort of cultural destabilization plan.
When the report of a kidnapping plot reached the police, the agency wouldn’t tell who shared the information or why the actor was specifically the target.
Crowe spent the rest of the year promoting his movies while being escorted by security guards. Still, he remained unconvinced that he was in some sort of dangerous situation. Interestingly, the actor employed a former Australian rugby league player as his own personal bodyguard.
The actor’s fame has definitely reached global attention to the point that he became a target of a terrorist group that wanted to make a statement. In 2011, Osama bin Laden was shot during a military raid operation where his body was taken by the authorities, providing a sense of justice for the victims of the 9/11 attack.
