Wilmer Valderrama describes the terrible plane incident in his new book

In his new book Wilmer Valderrama recalled a frightening experience that marked a turning point in his attitude toward life in Hollywood.

“A group of actors and insiders are flying from New Orleans back to Hollywood after the Super Bowl, but the flight is anything but smooth,” wrote 44-year-old Valderrama in An American Story: Everyone is Invitedwill be released on Tuesday, September 17. “A winter storm is raging in the sky and the mood on board is clouded.”

Valderrama was “in a small chartered plane” with his The wild seventies Co-Stars Ashton Kutcher And Daniel Mastersonas well as Colin Hanks and a handful of other friends.

“It's nothing outside but darkness and sleet,” he continued. “The plane is rocking up and down and from side to side. I'm dizzy. It's hard to breathe. Oxygen masks are falling from the ceiling and I wonder if they fell because the turbulence knocked them off or if it's something else.”

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After asking the pilot – who had already put on “a full-face Air Force mask that was much larger than ours” – Valderrama and his friends intervened.

“We're fumbling with our masks. There's definitely something wrong with this plane,” the actor wrote. “Colin grips the arms of his seat with an iron grip. Ashton's jaw drops into his lap. … Our plane is crashing.”

According to the captain, carbon monoxide entered the aircraft's interior because “an oxygen valve remained closed.” The effects were noticeable.

Masterson, 48, told his co-stars, “I have no feeling in my arm,” prompting Valderrama and Kutcher, 46, to “share a mask” and give Masterson an extra one. The pilot told the passengers they needed to land, but they were “still a long way from home.”

“I can't imagine the best-case scenario if we crash high up on a mountainside and they can't find us,” Valderrama recalls. “Ashton will be wondering who to eat first. It will probably be me, because he loves Latin American food.”

After an “incredibly turbulent” landing, the plane landed safely on the ground. “We let out a whoop of joy, but it felt like an eternity had just passed. It wasn't a joyful whoop of joy,” Valderrama wrote. “It was a shaky whoop of joy, as if we were all trying to process what had just happened.”

The emergency landing left the group delayed in El Paso, Texas, on their way back to California. While they waited for a new plane to pick them up, Valderrama called his mother. “I'm not telling her what happened,” he wrote. “I don't want to worry her. I'm just saying, 'I love you.'”

Valderrama did not specify when exactly the incident occurred, but noted it was “a few years later.” The wild seventies”, which premiered in 1998. Even though the version of the story that appeared in the press at the time was slightly exaggerated, Valderrama never stopped thinking about what happened.

When The wild seventies When Valderrama graduated in 2006, he began his “hiatus,” which gave him time to travel and “process these bigger questions” about the future of his career. Eventually, he returned to the industry—but he was very selective about the roles he wanted to take on. One of those roles was Dell Gordo in Larry CrowneCo-author and director were Tom Hankswho taught him “some of the best lessons about life and professionalism that I have ever experienced.”

Valderrama also received some advice from Johnny Depp after the plane incident when he felt he was “completely exhausting himself.” The duo came into contact through an agent who arranged a meeting with the 61-year-old Depp while he was filming Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's ChestDepp encouraged Valderrama to “focus on one character at a time” and “bet on himself” to succeed.

“[After we talk]I think: What if my life had ended that day on the plane?” wrote Valderrama. “Every one of us will die one day and we have to prepare for what comes next. But it's also important to live here and now.”

An American Story: Everyone is Invited is available now.