Josh Brolin’s Childhood Sounded Like an Episode of Tiger King

Photo: Gareth Cattermole/Getty Images

Being an actor is easy if you had to face exotic wildlife as a child. Josh Brolin grew up with a mother who worked as a wildlife rehabilitator, aka someone who rehabilitates animals to be released into the wild or safely rehomed to an accredited zoo with the California Department of Fish and Game. He told Ted Danson and Woody Harrelson during the latest episode of Where Everybody Knows Your Name podcast that an employee named Bud was almost eaten by a lion at their family ranch, where they rehabilitated some of the wildlife. “She told him, ‘Look, he’s not eating. You have to go in there and show him how to eat. You have to sit next to him and show him. Put your face in the bowl and show him; he needs help,’” explained Brolin. The man did just that, and in the blink of an eye, the lion bit him in the leg. He continued, “You hear the rip of the jeans and Bud’s going, ‘His teeth are going into my leg. His teeth are going into my leg!’ and my mom, when she would get nervous, she had this thing, a condition where she would laugh hysterically.” Thankfully, the lion eventually let go of Bud’s leg, setting him free. Seems like a tragic event but also just a day in the life of a little Josh Brolin, who concludes: “And then you go out into life and you become an actor and it’s all good.”