When you think of illegally crossing a border, what comes to mind? Refugees? Migrants? How about famous actresses who just want to see some high-end fashion in France? That’s exactly what happened to actress Madelyn Cline, who smuggled herself into the land of baguettes and cigarettes recently.
Cline recently appeared on The Late Late Show with James Corden, and she explained how a trip to Italy turned into a whole border-crossing fiasco. The Outer Banks actress explained that she was supposed to go to Fashion Week but had a few days off so she decided to go chill in Italy for a bit.
After she travelled around Italy for a bit she realized that her passport somehow absconded into the night, leaving her in a complicated legal quandary.
“It’s gone. It’s gone I can’t find it anywhere,” she told Corden. “I’m panicking.” She went to the consulate in the morning, and they gave her a new passport but with a caveat that it wouldn’t help her get into France, which was a big problem because she needed to get to fashion week. So what’s an enterprising young American actress to do? Break the law!
“Cut to 36 hours later. I’m in a sprinter van under a blanket crossing the Italian/French border.” Corden then said, “that’s what like a 16 hour drive?” “Twelve or fourteen,” she said. “I was largely asleep for most of it, but I could feel the van stop.”
Cline said she was dead asleep and then jerked awake by the realization she was at the border. She hears the driver, who she said “is in my will now,” talking to border guards and “going back and forth.”
“My hearts just beating out of my chest,” she said. Perhaps realizing that she committed an international crime, she walked back a little saying that “it wasn’t technically illegal,” and that the woman at the consulate said she could go by ground.
“So you were just covering yourself in a blanket because you were cold,” Corden said. Check out the interview below.
Stokes is a rising starlet and Outer Banks is a pretty popular show for Netflix. It follows a group of local teens called the “Pogues” who live in the Outer Banks area of North Carolina. Cline had a very public relationship with her costar, Chase Stokes (who coincidentally plays her love interest on the show).
Outer Banks is currently streaming on Netflix.