‘Young and the Restless’ Actor Speaks Out on His Horrific Thanksgiving Attack: ‘I Thought It Was Over’
“Young and the Restless” actor Corey Sligh has every reason to be angry at the two alleged attackers who ruined his Thanksgiving by running him over with a car before beating him so badly that he required hospitalization. But he isn't holding a grudge.
“I have no hatred for these guys,” Sligh told TheWrap. “It was pretty scary [being] on the hood of that car, but I'm happy to still be able to move my neck. I'm happy to have the problem of relearning to walk instead of not being able to walk at all. I'm pretty blessed.”
As TheWrap previously reported, Sligh was assaulted late Thursday night during a encounter with an aggressive driver. The incident happened around midnight, after he and girlfriend Alisa Berhorst had finished a holiday feast of their own and had begun their annual tradition of delivering warm meals to friends who weren't able to get Thanksgiving off at work.
See photos: 26 Daytime Talk Show Personalities Ranked by Popularity
Sligh's first stop was to visit a friend who worked at a Rite Aid at the corner of Fairfax and Sunset in West Hollywood. Sligh heard squealing tires and loud screaming as they neared the pharmacy. When Sligh arrived he saw a young man speeding around the parking lot in a sporty Mercedes, while another young man looked on with a camera.
“He wasn't just doing donuts,” Sligh explained, “He was flying through the parking lot, going like 40. The car was inches from hitting cars, curbs, and buildings and they were both just laughing.”
Sligh and Berhorst entered Rite Aid and delivered their first plate of food, but the chaos still ensued outside in the parking lot.
Also read: 'Young and the Restless' Actor Recovering After Being Beaten, Hit by Car on Thanksgiving
“We heard someone else scream,” he said. “Alisa and I went outside and the car finally stopped so the guy with the camera could get in. At first they seemed okay to talk to, so I said ‘Hey man, you're scaring the girls and they called the cops. Just get out of here. Go.'”
Instead of taking his advice, Sligh said the men got violent.
“He looked me dead in the eye and kicked open his door as hard as he could into my chest,” the actor explained. “Then I said, ‘Look, I don't have any problems, man.’ And I walked away, off to the left of his car. That's when I heard tires squealing behind me.”
“I turned around and the car was three feet away and coming at full speed. The next thing I know I'm up on the hood of the car, flipping off of the side,” he said. “I thought it was over.”
After Sligh hit the ground he said the car quickly peeled out of the parking lot, nearly hit a woman at a bus bench nearby. The actor's friend and girlfriend helped him up get up while other onlookers called the police, but the assailants came back.
Alisa Berhorst, Corey Sligh
When Sligh noticed the two guys walking back toward them, he quickly realized they had returned to fight him.
Also read: 'Days of Our Lives' Star Freddie Smith Charged With Felony, DUI After Car Crash
“They both attacked me. One guy hit me repeatedly in the face. I looked up and saw the other guy shoving Alisa and [our female friend],” he recounted. “I tried going over there while the first guy was hitting me. I had to tackle one of the guys to get him off and that's when my arm snapped.”
“[My arm] basically has a second elbow in the middle, where it was bent,” he added.
Despite the awful injuries, Sligh's primary concern was protecting his girlfriend and their friend. At one point he said he even resorted to running backward around the parking lot yelling at the two assailants, hoping to become a lightning rod for their attention. It worked. He said the women were never seriously harmed and alleges that the men continued attacking him until police finally arrived.
The men fled the scene, but were quickly apprehended by police. Sligh shared an ambulance with his girlfriend and eventually wound up at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. The actor was kept there until the early hours of Sunday morning.
Doctors put a plate and screws in his right arm, which he said broken in multiple places: ”All I can do with my right arm is just sort of pinch my fingers.”
Much of his body is also bruised, especially on his left side where the car hit him. The injuries sustained to his leg still required use of a wheelchair at time of his discharge from the hospital.
Also read: 'Days of our Lives' Star Freddie Smith and Girlfriend Injured in Car Crash (Updated)
Sligh will undergo physical therapy to properly walk again, which makes it difficult for him to sustain his current acting gigs, including on CBS's “The Young and the Restless” where he plays a waiter and a bartender. Sligh has also traveled the world as a model, appeared on NBC's “Days of Our Lives” and recently booked a pilot, but suddenly it's all on hold.
But the perpetually optimistic actor doesn't fret over what he can't change. He's incredibly grateful for his supportive family, friends and fans, but refuses to waste any time or energy on the men who police arrested in connection with these crimes.
“People can be cruel, but I'm not going to worry about it,” he said. “I'm just trying to get back to normal. Just trying to get back to acting.”
Related stories from TheWrap:
'Young and the Restless' Actor Recovering After Being Beaten, Hit by Car on Thanksgiving
'Days of Our Lives' Star Freddie Smith Charged With Felony, DUI After Car Crash
Two Hollywood Hall of Fame Stuntmen Killed in Traffic Accident
