Denzel Washington is crediting his faith in God for a recent accident not being worse than it was.
The Training Day star, 70, said he almost bit his tongue off recently and it’s affecting his work.
The Oscar winner is preparing to play Othello on Broadway opposite Jake Gyllenhaal and revealed his tongue is still swollen, making some of his lines hard to enunciate.
‘I have a line: “Whither will you that I go to answer this your charge?” It’s hard because my tongue is swollen,’ he told the New York Times. ‘It has affected everything.’
Nearly biting off his tongue also served as a moment for the Gladiator II star to reflect on his relationship with God.
‘That’s why you pray every day,’ he explained. ‘I’m like, “OK, Lord, I’m here, I think this is what you wanted me to do.”
Denzel Washington is crediting his faith in God for a recent accident not being worse than it was. Seen here in January 2025.
‘Now I’m not sure why [I bit my tongue], but one can say coincidence and serendipity and all those things.’
The Remember the Titans actor didn’t elaborate on how he injured his tongue or if he received any medical treatment for it.
Washington was asked if he believed acting as a profession helped people and he again turned the conversation to God.
‘At this point, everything I’m doing is through the lens of what God thinks, not what they think. I don’t know what they think,’ he said.
‘You go down that hole, you’ll never come out of that. When people say, ‘What do you want people to get from this movie?’ or ‘What do you want them to get from this play?’ I always say, ‘It depends upon what they bring to it.’
‘There’s some interesting themes [in Othello] of jealousy and envy and pain and death.
He added: ‘And Kenny [Leon], the brilliant director, he’s putting it in what he calls the near future.
‘So all of those things – jealousy, envy – it takes on a whole new thing with the information age.’
The Training Day star, 70, said he almost bit his tongue off recently and it’s affecting his work. Seen here in January 2025
The Oscar winner is preparing to play Othello on Broadway opposite Jake Gyllenhaal and revealed his tongue is still swollen making some of his lines hard to spit out. Seen here in 2024
‘I have a line: ‘Whither will you that I go to answer this your charge?’ It’s hard because my tongue is swollen,’ he told the New York Times
In the New York Times article Denzel also spoke about a prophecy about him.
‘It was prophesied in my youth that I would travel the world and preach or speak to millions of people,’ he said.
‘I used to think that I was doing that through my work. Now I’m trying to be a bit more specific, speaking about my faith.’
He said it started in 1975 when he had flunked out of college and was not sure what to do with his life.
‘Well, a woman was sitting in my mother’s beauty shop in March 1975,’ he began.
‘The reason I was in there was I had flunked out of college – I was told to take a semester off to think about what I wanted to do.
‘And every time I looked up, I saw this woman looking at me, and she said she was having a prophecy,’ Washington explained.
‘She didn’t say anything about me being an actor, but I have traveled the world, and I am speaking more and more.’
‘It has affected everything.’ Nearly biting off his tongue also served as a moment for the Gladiator II star to reflect on his relationship with God. Seen here in 2025
‘That’s why you pray every day,’ he explained. ‘I’m like, ‘OK, Lord, I’m here, I think this is what you wanted me to do.” Seen here in 2024
Denzel just re-found his faith last year and got baptized in December, just ahead of his 70th birthday.
The Mount Vernon, New York-born actor was supported by his spouse of more than four decades, Pauletta Washington, 74, at his baptism.
After his baptism, Washington said, ‘It took a while, but I’m finally here, if [God] can do this for me, there’s not
hing He can’t do for you – the sky literally is the limit.’
