Euphoria Star Opens Up About On-Set Injury
Maude Apatow fully ran into a wall during a production of Little Shop of Horrors.
These days, it seems like Maude Apatow really can’t catch a break. She is famously the daughter of Judd Apatow, so her success in Euphoria has constantly been overshadowed by accusations of Hollywood nepotism. And now, Deadline reports that while she was performing in the Broadway play Little Shop of Horrors, she told Seth Meyers she was temporarily blinded by the light (quite literally), resulting in her running “full-speed into the wall” so hard that the star “got a concussion.”
It’s the kind of story that she was always destined to laugh about with friends, but Maude Apatow decided to go one step better and share her embarrassing tale with the entire world. It’s notable that when she appeared on Late Night With Seth Meyers, she didn’t sugarcoat how the accident happened or her general clumsiness. The actor explained that she’s “always really kind of in a panic the entire time” and between that and her eyes having difficulty adjusting to the stage lights, she simply ran into the wall with concussion-inducing force.
Another reason that Maude Apatow likely doesn’t mind telling this story is that it has a happy ending: despite running into a wall and giving herself a concussion, she was still focused on giving the audience an amazing performance. Rather than requesting any kind of medical assistance, she got up and continued the performance, finishing the show strong. She told Meyer that it was only after the show was over that her “adrenaline wore off” and she realized a simple and fundamental truth: “I need to go to the hospital.”
It was very important for Maude Apatow to continue performing because she wasn’t just playing an extra or a minor cast member. Instead, she plays Audrey, the leading lady and inspiration for the name of the hilarious villain at the heart of Little Shop of Horrors, Audrey II. And in a perfect world, this story would spell the end of the “nepo baby” debate because it showcases that she was willing to power through the pain and give a killer performance rather than request any kind of special treatment just because she is the daughter of Judd Apatow.
While it’s true that Maude Apatow got her start as an actor in her famous father’s movies such as Knocked Up, Funny People, and This Is 40, it didn’t take long for her to branch out and star in Lena Dunham’s hit HBO show Girls. She has continued to prove her skills as an actor in Euphoria and now on Broadway, and it seems like she won’t rest until she’s the most famous Apatow in the family (not bad for someone who first appeared as a child actor in films where Seth Rogen got most of the attention).
Despite her current Broadway focus, though, Maude Apatow is still very focused on the next season of Euphoria, the show that really put her on the map. For example, she has publicly campaigned for her character Lexi to have a romance with Fez (shippers have already dubbed this potential future union “Fexi”), and these characters would never have had even an onscreen friendship if not for Apatow suggesting it to the writers. It looks like Maude Apatow simply has awesome ideas and great taste, and we can only hope she avoids hitting any creative walls in the future more effectively than she avoided hitting that actual wall.
