Hollywood legend Denzel Washington "bit his tongue almost half-off" in a bizarre incident

Hollywood legend Denzel Washington "bit his tongue almost half-off" in a bizarre incident that has left him struggling to speak. The Oscar winner, 70, revealed he suffered the injury some months ago and has been "forced to slow down" as he deals with his "swollen mouth organ".

He revealed the injury during an interview with the New York Times, saying: “I bit my tongue almost half-off a few months ago. It’s affecting my speech. It forces me to slow down. I have to use it. I have a line: ‘Whither will you that I go to answer this your charge?' It’s hard because my tongue is swollen. It has affected everything."

But he said, when asked how religion fits into his career, he said: "That’s why you pray every day. I’m like, okay Lord, I’m here, I think this is what you wanted me to do. Now I’m not sure why, but one can say coincidence and serendipity and all those things.”

Currently starring in Shakespeare’s Othello on Broadway, Washington said he now applies a religious viewpoint to everything in life - and has even found that the themes of "jealousy and envy" found in the play.

"At this point, everything I’m doing is through the lens of what God thinks, not what they think. I don’t know what they think,” he added. “You go down that hole, you’ll never come out of that. When people say, 'What do you want people to get from this movie?' or 'What do you want them to get from this play?' I always say, 'It depends upon what they bring to it.'

"There’s some interesting themes [in 'Othello'] of jealousy and envy and pain and death. And Kenny, the brilliant director, he’s putting it in what he calls the near future. So all of those things — jealousy, envy — it takes on a whole new thing with the information age."

Washington shot to fame through his role as Dr Philip Chandler in St Elsewhere, before progressing to Hollywood - and a host of awards. He picked up Academy Awards for Best Supporting Actor for playing an American Civil War soldier in the war drama Glory (1989) and for Best Actor for playing a corrupt police officer in the crime thriller Training Day (2001).

He was also nominated for Oscars for roles in Cry Freedom (1987), Malcolm X (1992), The Hurricane (1999), Flight (2012), Fences (2016), Roman J Israel, Esq (2017), and The Tragedy of Macbeth (2021).