Everyone thought I was dead says girl who fell off fair ride
A WOMAN flung from a fairground ride “like a rag doll” has told how horrified onlookers thought she had been killed.
Jade Harrison, 21, faces weeks in recovery after having metal plates put in her smashed jaw.
The former waitress, who is too upset and embarrassed to be seen in photographs taken
Jade Harrison before crash since the accident nine days ago, said she wants the Airmaxx 360 ride which could have killed her at Hull Fair scrapped. Jade, who is on liquid food because of the injuries to her face and mouth, was hurled up to 15ft and hit a teenager on another ride.
She said: “I feel lucky to be alive. I remember getting on the ride, the barrier clicking and worrying about coming out.
“The ride was spinning and started to bounce. I remember the sensation of falling out and just lying there. People have told me they all thought I was dead.”
Personal injury experts Hudgell Solicitors are calling for a “full and transparent” investigation.
Showmen’s Guild chairman Garry Leach said ride operators were “devastated” and were helping the Health and Safety Executive with inquiries.
WHEN the director of a TV series starring Michael Douglas was looking for an actor to play a sparkly septuagenarian, he thought the 68-yearold Jane Seymour would be perfect. There was just one problem, he didn’t think anyone would believe the Live And Let Die star was that old.
And he had a point: when we meet in Beverly Hills, it’s clear that she could pass for at least 10 years younger than her birth certificate.
Jane laughs as she recalls how she told him: “I just have a nice hairdresser who colours my hair brown – thank you, hairdresser – but if I show you a picture of me from another movie wearing a grey wig…
“He said, ‘Wow, you can do that?’ I said, ‘Yeah, I can do that!’ I’ve never been afraid of playing older: I’ve been doing it since I was much younger than I am now.”
Suffice to say, she got the part in The Kominsky Method.
The Netflix show stars Douglas as Sandy Kominsky, a respected Hollywood acting coach who had a brief moment of success as an actor. The second season, featuring Jane, is set to premiere later this month.
She aged herself for the role of Madelyn, an old flame of Sandy’s friend Norman Newlander (played by Alan Arkin, who is himself 85). Madelyn is a vital 70-something, with wrinkles on her face, a glint in her eye, and no patience for nonsense from Norman or anyone else.
Off screen, Jane remains erect and graceful, with enviably unlined skin and the upright posture that comes from years of ballet training.
“I was a little bit more limber when I was young,” she notes ruefully. “I could definitely run faster and I probably had much smoother skin.
“But the great thing about my age is that I’m completely independent now. I’m not married, I run my own businesses, I do everything for myself .
“I’m a far more independent person than I’ve ever been in my entire life, and if I had to do it again, I’d have been like this earlier. But I wasn’t: I was raised in a different era, when we were all told that men knew better. Not so much, it turns out!”
In fact, a list of Jane’s activities outside acting is verging on the dizzying. A talented painter in both oils and watercolours, she recently appeared in BBC TV’s Celebrity Painting Challenge and she exhibits across America.
She also has her own jewellery line, an assortment of pendants featuring open hearts, the proceeds of which go to her philanthropic organisation The Open Hearts Foundation.
When she’s not busy with that, she’s designing high-end furniture with luxury designer Michael Amini.
“I’m not a qualified designer,” she says. “But I’ve always been interested in interior design and I know what tastes I love. I used to have a home in England, Saint Catherine’s Court, that was over a thousand years old, and I completely did that up.
“I also used to design houses and people would buy them fully furnished. I love all that stuff, and we sell our furniture all over the world.”
Bin art galleries ETWEEN that and a busy acting career, you have to wonder just how she keeps herself going – especially at an age when many people are starting to think of putting their feet up and reaching for the crossword.
“I try to take care of myself,” she shrugs, briskly. She has tried Botox but felt it got in the way of her acting, and she admits to having breast implants after she had children.
Now she says: “I don’t do anything drastic to my face, no surgeries or any of the other crazy stuff that people are doing, which is why I can play