Benedict Cumberbatch recently disclosed that he had to undergo a covert surgery after suffering a severe surfing injury. The renowned 49-year-old English actor, who was spotted with his arm in a sling during the Cannes Film Festival last May, sustained damage to his shoulder. This was attributed to excessive enthusiasm for his beloved hobby, which ultimately led him to seek surgical intervention after enduring over a year of discomfort.

During an appearance on the SmartLess podcast, Cumberbatch shared his thoughts on the situation, saying, “I started in my forties, and I’m near the end of my forties, and I’m still feeling like I’m starting.” He went on to explain, “I had a short operation, so I haven’t done it at all for about six months. But I love it.”

Reflecting on the injury, Cumberbatch admitted, “It’s a long time of ill use and a lot of surfing in very bad conditions and overdoing it.” Despite the setback, his passion for surfing remains undiminished, although he now approaches it with a bit more caution.

‘But I had a short operation, so I haven’t done it at all for about six months. But I love it.’

Of his injury, he added: ‘It’s a long time of ill use and a lot of surfing in very bad conditions and overdoing it.

‘I had a torn rotator cuff and then also a frozen shoulder on top of it, which I only found when I went into it to do the repair to the rotator, which was a complete tear. I lived with chronic pain for about a year and a half.’

Benedict Cumberbatch has revealed he secretly underwent surgery following a brutal surfing injury (pictured in August)

The English actor, 49, who was seen with his arm in a sling at the Cannes Film Festival in May (pictured), damaged his shoulder as a result of ‘overdoing’ his favourite pastime and went under the knife after spending over a year in pain

The Doctor Strange star first ‘really fell in love’ with riding the waves when he was stuck in New Zealand amid the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 after shooting the western movie The Power Of The Dog.

He said: ‘It was a bit scary to begin with, but utterly magical and extraordinary.

‘One of the best places on Earth to be, as it turned out. And there was a little right-hand break in Te Awanga in Hawke’s Bay. It was where I learned. I really fell in love with it.’

Benedict, who shares sons Christopher, 10, Hal, eight, and Finn, six, with his wife Sophie Hunter, also loves how surfing brings together unlikely groups of people.

He said: ‘I fell in love with the view of the coastline. I fell in love with that connection to the ocean, how present you are and the community as well.

‘This extraordinary group of people where all is kind of forgiven – as long as you don’t take their wave.

‘You know, the drug dealer would be there, and the head of the local police force would be there. Just all of human life was around you.

‘I can’t explain to anyone who hasn’t surfed what that feeling is, of nature giving you a ride from somewhere out in the ocean towards the shoreline. It’s just magic when it works.’

Speaking on the SmartLess podcast, he said: ‘I started in my forties, and I’m near the end of my forties, and I’m still feeling like I’m starting. But I had a short operation, so I haven’t done it at all for about six months. But I love it’ (pictured in January)

Of his injury, he added: ‘I had a torn rotator cuff and then also a frozen shoulder on top of it, which I only found when I went into it to do the repair to the rotator, which was a complete tear’ (pictured this month)

It comes days after Benedict insisted that his three sons won’t be going to boarding school after he was educated at the £64,000-a-year Harrow School.

Speaking to Daily Mail’s Richard Eden about his kids going to boarding school, he said: ‘Not unless they really want to, but no way.

‘And Sophie [feels] the same. Selfishly, I want them around – I still want to be there, in case the call comes, [when] the fall happens, I wanna be there.’

He does, however, praise his alma mater, whose alumni include Winston Churchill and pop star James Blunt, for its ‘amazing facilities and very structured timetable’.

Harrow is a boarding school for boys aged 13 to 18 and was founded in 1572 under a Royal Charter granted by Queen Elizabeth I.