Gilmore Girls star Scott Cohen ‘thought he was dead’ after collision in high-speed car chase

Crash left the actor with a broken sternum that is ‘never going to heal’

Gilmore Girls star Scott Cohen has spoken about the life-threatening car collision that nearly claimed his life earlier this year.

The actor, 62, was driving home in Brooklyn, New York with his wife Anastasia Traina, when their vehicle was struck by that of a suspect in a high-speed car chase.

He was asked about the crash while on the red carpet for the premiere of The Penguin, HBO Max’s new serialised spin-off of The Batman.

“We thought we were dead,” he told Page Six. “My wife’s arm is all messed up. I have a broken sternum, which is supposed to be never-healing. It’s like called a nonunion break, and it’s never going to heal.”

The driver of the vehicle that crashed into Cohen’s car was being pursued by police at the time. After the crash, the suspect’s car is reported to have burst into flames, with the suspect leaving on foot and exchanging gunfire with law enforcement.

Cohen previously shared a photo of himself in hospital for treatment, alongside a caption acknowledging “the fragility of us and how life can change in an instant”.

“With broken bones, bruised bodies, lots of drugs, and the impact of a random act of aggression that hit us we venture on,” he wrote.

Scott Cohen in 2022 (Getty Images)

“I’m very pissed my existence right now is about healing but at the same time truly grateful @afunnybunnypicture and I are both here to experience the love and incredible generosity of friends and family.”

Cohen is probably best known for playing the role of Max Medina in the hit WB series Gilmore Girls.

The Penguin sees him star opposite Colin Farrell and Cristin Milioti in a dark drama set in the criminal underworld of Batman’s Gotham City.

In a three-star review for The Independent, Nick Hilton wrote: “Most people won’t be watching The Penguin as anything more than a Batman spin-off. In this sense, it’s more akin to Todd Phillips’s Joker than the rest of the caped crusader’s world.

“Farrell’s Penguin is very human: flawed but ambitious, unappealing but confident. The Oscar-nominated actor gives what I suspect is a good performance, but he’s unrecognisable, caked under layers of prosthetics and a fat suit. Farrell is a leading man, with leading man good looks. I don’t quite understand the logic of hiring and then hiding him, rather than just casting someone a better physical match for the character. It feels like he’s taking food out of the mouths of Paul Giamatti’s children.”