Theo James reveals he gave up trying to be a rockstar after a bottle of urine was thrown at him

English actor Theo James recently talked about his early career as an aspiring musician who got a bottle of urine thrown at him by an audience member. On Thursday, June 13, the 39-year-old made an appearance on The Kelly Clarkson Show, where both Clarkson and James shared some of their worst stage moments.

"I wanted to be a rockstar. I played in hundreds of gigs, I was in various different bands, most of them terrible. When I was playing in a band I had a bottle of urine thrown at me, which was nice. At that point I was like, 'Maybe I should try something else," James explained why he moved to acting.

The Divergent star has since changed his career path, appearing in films and television shows such as The White Lotus, The Witcher, and X-Men, among others.

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Theo James recalls bottle of urine thrown at his face on stage during band days

Theo James made his acting debut in the comedy-drama You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger (2010). Before venturing into show business, the 39-year-old was a vocalist and guitarist for the London-based band Shere Khan.

On Thursday, Theo James appeared on Kelly Clarkson's talk show where the pair spoke about their lives as musicians. When the actor shared his bottle of urine story, the host asked how the situation came about, and he responded,

"It was a strange, sweaty, horrible gig. I think the act before us were late and everyone was kind of inebriated and angry and someone decided that the best way to deal with that was pee in a bottle and throw it at someone's face."

Promoting the 2024 drama series The Gentlemen, written by Guy Ritchie and Matthew Read at The Kelly Clarkson Show, James recalled that the urine bottle incident was one of the many not-ideal moments he experienced onstage. He added another story about an injury saying,

"I've had lots of things go wrong. I had my foot crushed in a moving piece of equipment on stage once, I was looking in the wrong direction and this roller thing just crushed my entire foot."

Kelly Clarkson also shared her own horror story about her time onstage. The singer explained that she was at an event where the stage had bits of glass on it, so she decided to perform barefoot, resulting in a "sliced foot."

The Gentlemen is a spin-off of Ritchie's 2019 film of the same name. The project follows aristocratic Eddie Halstead, played by Theo James, as he inherits the family estate and discovers that the place is a sprawling weed empire.

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The Gentlemen was released on March 7, 2024, featuring cast members Kaya Scodelario, Daniel Ings, Joely Richardson, and Vinnie Jones, among others.