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Olivia Rodrigo speaks on “Tonight Show” about “terrifying” stage accident and “panic attack” during border interrogation


Olivia Rodrigo speaks on “Tonight Show” about “terrifying” stage accident and “panic attack” during border interrogation

Olivia Rodrigo is probably still on a sugar high after completing her sold-out 95-show Guts world tour. So, of course, on Tuesday evening (October 29th) when she visited Tonight's showHost Jimmy Fallon asked her to talk about two of the wildest things that happened to her on the street.

After holding up a copy of the touring edition of billboard On the cover of Rodrigo magazine, Fallon delved into the singer's intense confrontation with some border police officers. “I was in trouble with the law for the first time in my life,” admitted Rodrigo. “We were traveling from Canada to Portland or something. We were at border control, I give them my passport and they said, 'Okay, whatever.' And they knock on the door and say, 'We need Olivia.'”

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Thinking it might be a border guard who wanted an autograph for her daughter, Rodrigo got off her bus at 3 a.m. to see what the problem was. “I'm delirious and they take me into a room – and it's an interrogation room, and there's like a big police officer (with) a gun,” she remembers. “He asks, 'Have you ever been arrested?' I say, “No, I wasn't arrested.” He asks, “Are you sure?” I'm like gaslighting (myself). I think, 'Oh my God, maybe I was arrested and didn't know it,'” she said breathlessly.

After being warned that she could go to prison for lying to a federal agent, Rodrigo said she started freaking out because she feared she wouldn't be allowed back into the United States. “I'm so scared. I’m having a panic attack right now,” she said. After a 30-minute interrogation, the border guard looked at her again and asked her to spell her last name. “(I said) 'Olivia Rodrigo, so, R, O, D, R, I, G, O' And he said, 'Oh, there's a girl that looks just like you, that's the same age as you, that's it.' arrested multiple times and her name is Olivia Rodriguez.'”

Fallon also asked Rodrigo, 21, to recap some highlights of the tour, which she said included her first trip to the Philippines, which was special for her because of her Filipino heritage. “Yes, it was so special and everyone was so great. (And) such good singers!” she said, recalling how her fans there sang all her lyrics in perfect pitch and key.

Jimmy also just had to mention one of the most embarrassing moments of the tour, a mishap in Melbourne, Australia in which Olivia fell through an onstage trapdoor. After playing the clip of Rodrigo handling the tripping like a pro, the singer said it was actually “really scary.” It's pretty frightening to watch the video again. I mean the show must go on, that’s showbiz, baby.”

However, Rodrigo said that in hindsight it was actually a “beautiful” accident because she had just been in the Philippines and was thinking about her family and her legacy to make sure she didn't suffer a concussion. There she was treated by a Filipino nurse who shared the same name as the singer's grandfather, who died earlier this year.

“And so I thought, 'Wow, he was looking out for me,'” she said. “I made sure I didn't get injured and so I'm really glad it happened. I think it’s a beautiful story.”

Rodrigo also posted her new Netflix concert special Olivia Rodrigo: GUTS World Tour and stuck around to play a fun game of “What’s Behind Me.”

Look at Rodrigo The Tonight Show below.

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