Ian McKellen's fat suit prevented further injuries when falling on stage

Ian Mckellen says his fat suit prevented far worse injuries when he fell off the stage during a West End performance in June.

“I wore a fat suit for Falstaff,” McKellen said in an interview published in Saga magazine on Tuesday. [and that] My ribs and other joints were saved, so I consider myself lucky.”

McKellen played John Falstaff in the stage adaptation of “Player Kings,” which combines Shakespeare's “Henry IV” Parts 1 and 2. Set in 1403, the play centers on the rebellious nobles who conspire to overthrow King Henry IV. During a fight scene, the “X-Men” actor tripped on a newspaper, causing his foot to catch on a chair and him to stumble off the stage into the front row of the audience, screaming “Help me!”

“My shattered vertebrae and broken wrist are still not healed,” McKellen told the magazine. “I don't go out because I'm afraid someone will bump into me, and I have excruciating pain in my shoulders because my whole body was shaken.”

The day after the accident, McKellen took to X (formerly Twitter) to thank his fans for their overwhelming support and announced that he had been “diagnosed and treated by a team of specialists.” While he did not provide further details about his injuries, he said doctors had “assured him that my recovery will be thorough and swift.”

However, due to the injuries, he had to withdraw from the show and is currently recovering with a neck brace.

“I thought it was the end of something. It was very disturbing,” the “Lord of the Rings” actor told Saga. “The end didn't mean my death, but it felt like the end of my participation in the play.”

The “X-Men” actor said he reassured himself that his age was not a factor in his downfall.

“I have to keep telling myself that I'm not too old to act. It was just a damn accident,” said the 85-year-old actor. “I didn't lose consciousness, I wasn't dizzy, but I couldn't get back on stage and they carried on without me.”

In July, a few weeks after his accident, Mckellen posted an Instagram post celebrating the final performance of “Player Kings” without him and announcing that he would be at the final show. The actor's understudy, David Semark, had taken over the role for the national tour and the final three shows.

“On the day of the 101st and final performance of Player Kings – without me – I celebrated by removing Falstaff's hair that had been growing for 9 months,” McKellen wrote in the caption of the character's beard. “I'll be in the audience at the matinee in Newcastle.”