Al Pacino speaks onstage at “The Godfather” 50th Anniversary Screening during the 2022 Tribeca Festival at United Palace Theater on June 16, 2022 in New York City. Getty Images for Tribeca Festival
Say hello to his little friend.
Al Pacino is reflecting on an unpleasant 𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘥hood memory. The Oscar winner, 84, detailed an injury at age 10 in his new memoir “Sonny Boy.”
Pacino called the incident involving his penis “one of the most embarrassing experiences of my life.”
“I seemed to cheat death on a regular basis,” the actor writes in the book’s first chapter, which recounted his upbringing in New York’s South Bronx, per People. “I was like a cat with many more than nine lives. I had more mishaps and accidents than I can count.”
6“Sonny Boy: A Memoir” by Al Pacino. Penguin Press1/1Skip Ad Continue watchingafter the adVisit Advertiser websiteGO TO PAGE
6Al Pacino’s nicknames as a kid included Sonny, Pacchi and Pistachio — the last for his favorite flavor of ice cream. Courtesy Al Pacino/ Mark Scarola
The story that leaves Pacino “squeamish to tell it now,” goes like this: “I was walking on a thin, iron fence, doing my tightrope dance. It had been raining all morning, and sure enough, I slipped and fell, and the iron bar hit me directly between my legs.”
The author recounted being “in such pain that I could hardly walk home. An older guy saw me groaning in the street, picked me up, and carried me” to an aunt’s apartment. Once there, a young Pacino and his family waited for a doctor to arrive for a house call.
6Al Pacino, 1989 in “Sea of Love.” ©Universal/Courtesy Everett Collection
6Al Pacino in “Scarface” circa 1983. ©Universal/Courtesy Everett Collection
“I lay there on the bed, with my pants completely down around my ankles as the three women in my life — my mother, my aunt, and my grandmother — poked and prodded at my penis in a semipanic,” Pacino wrote. “I thought, God, please take me now, as I heard them whispering things to one another as they conducted their inspection.”
As the “Scarface” star put it, his penis “remained attached, along with the trauma.”
He added: “To this day I’m haunted by the thought of it.”
“Sonny Boy” also tells many more stories from Pacino’s 𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘥hood, including the handful of times his divorced parents were together. In his 𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘥hood, he also spent time stealing food and jumping subway turnstiles with friends.
“Making mischief and running away from authority figures was our pastime,” he writes.
Earlier this month, Pacino took a moment to recount another, much more recent scary experience, this while suffering from COVID-19.
6Al Pacino The Game Awards 2022, Show, Los Angeles, California, USA – 08 Dec 2022. Frank Micelotta/PictureGroup for/Shutterstock
The icon said that during that time, he had a near-death experience where his heart stopped — and paramedics had to bring him back to life.
The “Godfather” star told the New York Times that he was “sitting there in my house and I was gone” after falling unconscious while battling the virus, reportedly in 2020.
“I didn’t have a pulse,” he shares in the interview published earlier this month. “In a matter of minutes they were there — the ambulance in front of my house. I had about six paramedics in that living room, and there were two doctors, and they had these outfits on that looked like they were from outer space or something.”
6Al Pacino is seen at Giorgio Baldi restaurant on April 10, 2024 in Los Angeles. GC Images
“I didn’t see the white light or anything,” he continuea. “There’s nothing there. I’d never thought about it in my life. But you know actors: It sounds good to say I died once. What is it when there’s no more?”
Despite some trying times, the “Dog Day Afternoon” actor finds solace in having his 𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘥ren — Julie, 34; twins Anton and Olivia, 23; and Roman, 𝐛𝐨𝐫𝐧 in 2023 — as his “consolation,” and his extensive body of work as his legacy.
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As he put it, “It’s just the way it is.”
“I didn’t ask for it. Just comes, like a lot of things just come,” said Pacino before adding he doesn’t find the topic of death “morbid.”
