Almost a quarter-century after the 9/11 attacks, shockwaves from the four coordinated al-Qaeda suicide attacks still echo throughout the world today.
Nearly a quarter of a century on from the atrocities of 9/11, reverberations from the four coordinated al-Qaeda terror strikes continue to resonate across the globe today.
Two passenger jets were flown into the twin towers of the World Trade Centre, whilst a third aircraft was piloted into the Pentagon.
A fourth plane plummeted to earth in Pennsylvania after crew members and passengers battled the terrorists aboard, thwarting it from hitting another target, believed to have been the White House.
The four crashes claimed the lives of 2,977 innocent victims, alongside the 19 hijackers.
Amongst them were several famous names, including David Angell, creator and producer of hugely popular TV programmes such as Cheers and Frasier.
However, a select few celebrities had remarkable narrow escapes from the devastating assaults, either by missing flights that were subsequently hijacked or calling off meetings in the doomed towers.
Seth MacFarlane.
The mastermind behind popular animated series such as Family Guy and American Dad, as well as live-action comedies including Ted, A Million Ways to Die in the West and the Star Trek spoof The Orville, Seth MacFarlane had been scheduled to board American Airlines Flight 11 from Boston to Los Angeles on the morning of September 11, 2001.
“I was booked on that flight, and I was drinking the night before, and I was hungover,” he subsequently disclosed in an interview.
“I missed the plane by about ten minutes,” he added.
“It was a very close call for me.”
After booking a later flight, Seth found himself having a nap. Waking up hours later, he switched on the news only to discover that disaster had struck – and he’d narrowly escaped it.
Mark Wahlberg.
Like Seth MacFarlane, the Oscar-nominated star of films such as The Departed and Boogie Nights was also originally booked on American Airlines Flight 11.
However, at the last minute, he changed his plans, opting to fly to Toronto for a film festival instead.
The hard-man actor faced a huge backlash after claiming that he could have thwarted the hijackers. In a magazine interview six months after the tragedy, Wahlberg stated: “If I was on that plane with my kids, it wouldn’t have went down like it did. There would have been a lot of blood in that first-class cabin and then me saying, ‘OK, we’re going to land somewhere safely, don’t worry.'”
Deena Burnett-Bailey, whose husband Thomas Burnett was one of the passengers on United Airlines Flight 93 who did successfully fight the hijackers, told TMZ she was offended by Wahlberg’s comments: “I think hindsight is 20/20 and it’s insignificant to say what you would have done if you weren’t there.
“The plan for Flight 93 was foiled by heroes. For him to speculate that his presence on board could have stopped everything is silly and disrespectful.”
In 2012, he faced a fresh wave of criticism for repeating the comment in an interview with Men’s Journal. Wahlberg later expressed his regret, stating: “I deeply apologise to the families of the victims that my answer came off as insensitive, it was certainly not my intention.
“To suggest I would have done anything differently than the passengers on that plane was irresponsible.”
Michael Jackson.
The self-proclaimed “King of Pop,” Michael Jackson, reportedly had a breakfast meeting scheduled at the World Trade Center on that tragic morning. However, according to his elder brother Jermaine, he had been up until the early hours chatting with his mother and overslept.
In his 2012 memoir, You Are Not Alone Michael: Through a Brother’s Eyes, Jermaine wrote: “Thankfully, none of us had had a clue that Michael was due at a meeting that morning at the top of one of the Twin Towers.
“We only discovered this when Mother phoned his hotel to make sure he was okay. She, Rebbie and a few others had left him there around 3am. ‘Mother, I’m okay, thanks to you,’ he told her. ‘You kept me up talking so late that I overslept and missed my appointment.'”
Sarah Ferguson
At the time of the attacks, the Duchess of York’s charity, Chances for Children, had an office on the 101st floor of the North Tower of the World Trade Center. She had been set to visit the office following an early-morning interview with NBC’s Matt Lauer.
The vehicle transporting Sarah Ferguson to the World Trade Center had got caught up in traffic, which meant she was still travelling to the office when the plane struck.
“The Duchess of York is desperately upset for everyone involved in this terrible tragedy,” her spokesperson said at the time. “It is unbelievable, she was just a few minutes away when the explosion took place.”
Following the collapse of the Twin Towers, the charity’s mascot – a doll named Little Red – was discovered amongst the debris by photographers. Years afterwards, the duchess proposed an idea for a children’s book based on the doll’s story, but it was turned down by publishers who were concerned that American readers would find it offensive.