Theo James Says He Had a Bottle of Urine Thrown at Him When He Was in a Band

It, understandably, put him off being a musician.

Theo James attends Sky's Up Next event at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane on May 17, 2022 in London, England.
(Image credit: Getty Images)

Theo James, of White Lotus fame, used to be a musician—but one particularly disgusting incident put him off the rockstar life for good.

James recently appeared on The Kelly Clarkson Show, with the host bringing up that she'd heard he came from a musical family. She then asked him whether he'd ever wanted to pursue music as a result, to which he replied, "That was what I wanted to do initially, kind of forever. I was in bands, I wanted to be a rockstar, and I played hundreds of gigs. I was in various different bands, most of them terrible."

Theo James and Meghann Fahy attend the 29th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards at Fairmont Century Plaza on February 26, 2023 in Los Angeles, California.

Theo James with his White Lotus costar Meghann Fahy.

(Image credit: Getty Images)

Clarkson then played some old, slightly embarrassing footage of James in a band. She also asked him if he had any particular anecdotes about messing up on stage as a musician, which is something that she can relate to as a fellow singer.

"I've had lots of things go wrong," James explained. "I had my foot crushed in a moving piece of equipment on stage once—I was looking the wrong direction and this roller thing just crushed my entire foot. When I was playing in a band, I had a bottle of urine [thrown] at me, yeah, which was nice. At that point, I was like, maybe I should try something else."

Clarkson was obviously shocked by this revelation, and asked the Divergent actor how this could possibly have come about.

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

Sure, stands to reason...?

Theo James Dodged Bottle Of Urine Thrown On Stage - YouTube Theo James Dodged Bottle Of Urine Thrown On Stage - YouTube
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Iris Goldsztajn
Morning Editor

Iris Goldsztajn is a London-based journalist, editor and author. She is the morning editor at Marie Claire, and her work has appeared in the likes of British Vogue, InStyle, Cosmopolitan, Refinery29 and SELF. Iris writes about everything from celebrity news and relationship advice to the pitfalls of diet culture and the joys of exercise. She has many opinions on Harry Styles, and can typically be found eating her body weight in cheap chocolate.