Brendan Fraser says his late horse Pecas "saved an emotional part of me".
The 56-year-old actor, who has struggled with his mental health over the years, has paid tribute to his late support animal which he adopted after seeing his four-legged companion in the 2015 miniseries 'Texas Rising'.
Speaking at the Red Sea Film Festival in Saudi Arabia Sunday (08.12.24), he said: “I had a horse for a while there. He’s not with us anymore, I’m sad to say. He’s in horsey heaven. He saved… not my life, but he certainly saved an emotional part of me.”
On the journey to transport Pecas, he added: “I put him on FedEx. I flew him through El Paso. I dropped him off at JFK. He came. He walked right into the barn close to my home, where I’d rented a stall for him, and he happily laid down on fresh cedar shavings and thought, yep, okay, I’m done.”
Elsewhere, Brendan revealed the real reason director Darren Aronofsky cast him as the lead Charlie in 'The Whale' - which he won the Best Actor in a Leading Role Oscar for - was because he hadn't been onscreen for a while.
The actor underwent a major transformation for the part, donning a prosthetic suit and through CGI and makeup he appeared as the 600-pound man.
The 'Mummy' star explained: "He was looking for an actor who hadn't been seen in a while. He told me. And that was me. He wanted to reintroduce that actor through a performance that would be transformative and have an element of this is the last person you might expect to do this role."
Brendan previously admitted he thought there had been another huge Oscars mix-up when he heard his name called in the Best Actor category.
Speaking backstage after his win, Brendan confessed: "When I first heard my name, I heard my name and I thought: 'That can't be right'... but it was, so I guess I should get up there and say something quick."
