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Why Anya Taylor-Joy Said Jimmy Fallon "Saved My Life" at the Met Gala
"I'm going to die on the steps of the Met, darling," the Furiosa star recalls thinking that night, before The Tonight Show Host showed up.
Anya Taylor-Joy voiced video game icon Princess Peach in The Super Mario Bros. Movie, but it was almost "game over" for her at a Met Gala several years ago.
Taylor-Joy, who stars in the upcoming Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga with Met Gala Co-Chair Chris Hemsworth, stopped by The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon on November 16, 2022. Before she could discuss her latest projects, she took a moment to thank Jimmy Fallon.
"I don't know if you know this, but you actually saved my life once, so thank you," Taylor-Joy told Fallon. "You really did. This is actually a true story, and it's pretty cuckoo bananas, as are my shoes," she said, showing off her gold-toed platform wedges.
"On the subject of insane fashion, it was at the Met Gala [in 2018], my first and only time being there," the Furiosa actress continued. "I was wearing a dress that was ridiculously heavy and I couldn't really move, and I was just... trying to get through the evening.
"And at the end of the night, I'm at the top of the stairs, the gorgeous Hailee Steinfeld walks past me, has a very complicated three-train thing, and I get wrapped up in it," Taylor-Joy continued. "And I'm like, 'oh I'm going to die. I'm going to die on the steps of the Met, darling.'"
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Jimmy Fallon was Anya Taylor-Joy's "hand of God" at The Met Gala
"But literally just out of nowhere, the 'hand of God' came out, and pulled me out of it, and it was you," Taylor-Joy said to Fallon. "And you were just so sweet about it. You were like 'Hey, I'm Jimmy. Nice to meet you.' I was like, 'Okay.'"
"I do remember that. You were going down," recalled The Tonight Show Host.
"And you were next to Sarah Paulson, and from that moment on, my night got so much better 'cause I actually knew somebody there. So thank you," she added.
"I'm so happy you're here and saved your life," Fallon said.
In March 2022, Steinfeld posted to X (formerly Twitter), when she learned of the near-death experience, writing: "Not me being the possible cause of sending Anya Taylor Joy down that colossal staircase. Thank god for Jimmy Fallon & honestly thank god for you ATJ... I can’t wait to properly meet!!!"
It was fashion versus Furiosa, but thanks to Fallon, Taylor-Joy won the fight that night.
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This year's Met Gala theme is "The Garden of Time," and it will celebrate the opening of the Costume Institute's spring exhibit, “Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion.”
Bad Bunny, Chris Hemsworth, Jennifer Lopez, Anna Wintour, and Zendaya will serve as Co-Chairs for the event. The star-studded benefit will take place on Monday, May 6 at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.
