BEVERLY HILLS, California — As we near the end of 2009 and look back on the biggest news stories of the year, names like Michael Jackson, Barack Obama and Balloon Boy will inevitably be mentioned. But without a doubt, Twilighters will recall that few news stories broke as shockingly — or spread as rapidly — as the June item that Robert Pattinson had been struck by a taxi. Recently, we caught up with the fully intact actor and had to ask: What really happened?
"That was the weirdest thing," the 23-year-old star laughed, remembering a period of insane media coverage that had many placing the blame for the near-accident squarely on the shoulders of RPattz's fans. "There are a couple of stories that certainly blew that up to such a huge proportion.
"I was shooting this movie 'Remember Me' in New York," he recalled. "It was about 5:30 in the morning or something, and I was just coming back from Staten [Island], and there was just one paparazzi or something, just one guy going around."
At the time, Pattinson said he didn't think much of the one photographer. But as fans shrieked and he went to cross the street, it became much more. "We were just crossing the street," he explained. "And a cab driver just decided to not [stop], just keep moving forward."
Depending on whom you ask, that cab driver did everything from speed up to hit Pattinson to obliviously brush past him like a passing subway train. "I think, because the photographer couldn't get a photo, he just sold the story as, 'Oh, he got hit by a car,' which was so [untrue]. I didn't really get hit by it at all. I think the cab was stationary," he laughed. "But it was amazing. It was on CNN!
"And it was based on absolutely nothing, pretty much," the oft-talked-about star added, pacifying Twilighters who hope he's looking both ways whenever he crosses the street. "I mean, that was funny, that story."
MTV delves deep into the "Twilight" universe with two can't-miss specials: "Love Bites" chronicles the budding rumored romance between Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart on Monday at 10 p.m. ET/PT, while "New Moon Revealed" will feature die-hard fans as they gather to meet the saga's stars Monday at 10:30 p.m. ET/PT.
Check out everything we've got on "The Twilight Saga: New Moon."
For young Hollywood news, fashion and "Twilight" updates around the clock, visit HollywoodCrush.MTV.com.
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