Josh Duhamel recalls dropping costar during All My Children sex scene

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Published on May 29, 2020 10:30AM EDT

Watch episode 5 of EW Cast Reunions: All My Children streaming now on PeopleTV.com, or download the PeopleTV app on your favorite device.

Take it from Josh Duhamel: Don't ever combine work pranks and fake furniture, because that can end with a trip to the hospital.

The actor learned his lesson the hard way when he dropped costar Rebecca Budig while rehearsing a romantic scene for All My Children. During episode 5 of EW's Cast Reunions: All My Children, the actors look back on the mishap and laugh, but say it was a scary situation at the time.

Duhamel, who portrayed Leo du Pres on the soap, smoothly starts the conversation by asking Budig, "Remember when I dropped you on your head?"

The two played lovers on the ABC series, which required them to get up close and personal on set. But one day, Duhamel took it a little too far by trying to joke around when doing a stunt. Budig, who portrayed Greenlee Smythe, recalls what exactly went down during the rehearsal.

"I'm in a robe and he picks me up, and so we're chest to chest and have my legs wrapped around him. And he's supposed to take me back to the bedroom, like make love," the actress says. "A the end, Josh looks at me and goes, 'Let's go have sex,' and he goes running to the back bedroom to throw me on the bed, and he trips. He tripped on a wire, and in tripping on a wire, he instinctively put his hands out and dropped me."

Budig says her back hit the floor, with her head landing on the corner of the prop bed frame, which was just slabs of wood. She goes on to say that Duhamel frantically asked if she was okay, and it took her a moment to realize she was not.

"I'm like, 'Yeah, I'm okay. No, wait, I'm not okay, there's a dent in my head," Budig continues. She was bleeding everywhere and had to get carried out on a stretcher to an ambulance. It all ended up all right, but Budig says she still thinks she gets neck pain from the accident.

Ultimately though, the actress says she looks back on her time on AMC fondly: "I just remember that family feeling."

Melissa Claire Egan similarly says, "Those four-and-a-half years changed my life and were the best."

Thus, when ABC canceled the show in 2011, after 41 years on the air, the cast members say it was a shock for them to leave their work family. Chrishell Stause, who played Amanda Dillon on the series, reveals in the clip below that there was a whole other ending that AMC set up. It got scrapped due to production company Prospect Park picking up the show as a web series, but Stause says she got to film her character's ending.

"We shot the ending where we adopted another child and they wrote this beautiful ending for everyone," she says. "It got scrapped once Prospect Park bought the rights because they wanted to leave it open-ended. So it was a little unfortunate, because I know what it was supposed to look like."

"Jake [played by Ricky Paull Goldin] and Amanda, they have Trevor, they adopted another baby because she couldn't have kids," the Selling Sunset star continues. "Every single character really had a beautifully story line… In my head, I like to think of it the way that it was written originally."

During the reunion, which also includes Goldin and Cameron Mathison, Duhamel says he can recite his first AMC scene with Elizabeth Banks, plus the castmates talk about their first fan encounters.

The All My Children reunion is part of EW's ongoing #UnitedAtHome series. New episodes have dropped every day this week at 10 a.m. ET, and the final two installments were released today. The event is also for a good cause, with the AMC cast choosing to support Feeding America, which is putting food on the tables of those affected by the COVID-19 pandemic across the country. For those who want to donate, please visit ew.com/allmychildrenreunion.

Watch both clips above, and see full episodes from the reunion here.

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