Morgan Freeman has finally disclosed the heartbreaking reason why he always wears gold hoop earrings.
The 86-year-old star took to Instagram and admitted that he got asked all the time about his jewelry. He told his fans that he took inspiration from sailor culture when picking the gold hoop earrings.
“The truth is, these are worth just enough for someone to buy me a coffin if I die in a strange place,” he expressed.
“That’s why sailors used to wear them and that’s why I do,” the Bruce Almighty actor added.
Freeman has been a sailor for many years and even described it as “a particularly effective antidote to healing from Hollywood.”
The Giornale della Vela magazine revealed that the actor’s sailings have included Nova Scotia, Cape Cod, Long Island Sound, the Maine coast, the Elizabeth Islands, Yarmouth, and Block Island.
In 2010, he revealed that he started wearing the earrings after watching 1952 Burt Lancaster in The Crimson Pirate.
“I thought that was sexy. Then I learned that sailors wore gold earrings to pay for funerals if they died in foreign lands. I’m a sailor so that nailed it,” he told Fox News.
In another interview with The Guardian, he said that he has always felt a strong connection to the sea, adding that he always ‘wanted an earring.’
“It has to do with my attachment to the sea,” he said.
“When I was around 35 I was separated from my wife and she said, ‘I’m going to pierce your ear.’ I’m an avid sailor, a dyed-in-the-wool blue-water man,” Freeman added.
What are your thoughts on this? Let us know in the comments section and SHARE this story with your friends and family!