Yahoo News Orlando Bloom went on an actual spy mission to recover his watches stolen by the Bling Ring
No one messes with the son of William "Bootstrap Bill" Turner.
Orlando Bloom and his ex-wife Miranda Kerr were among a string of high-profile celebrities who had their prized possessions stolen by the infamous robbery group the Bling Ring in 2009. Now, the Pirates of the Caribbean star is detailing the actual spy mission he went on to recover some of his lost items.
"They took a lot of things. It was a really weird situation," Bloom recalled on Thursday's episode of The Late Late Show. "What they did find was a stash of watches I had."
The actor, who had been collecting timepieces since he started making movies, admitted that he didn't have a safe for them because it was something that "didn't even occur to me at that point in my life." He added, "And they took some very expensive watches."
In 2010, Bling Ring member Alexis Haines pled no contest and was sentenced to six months in prison with three years probation, and required to pay restitution for robbing Bloom's home. The burglary is depicted in Sofia Coppola's 2013 film The Bling Ring.
"Three months after the robbery, I got a phone call from a guy who I'd actually bought some of the watches from saying, 'I think your watches are surfacing,'" Bloom said. "So I go and meet the guy and he goes, 'I think you can probably get them back if you wanna [makes payment hand gesture]. And I was like, 'What? I've gotta [pay]?'"
From his buyer, Bloom was able to obtain the contact information of the man attempting to sell his gear. After repeatedly calling for "three to five months," he was able to find the man's pawn shop, so he stopped by for a little visit.
"I just rocked up to his shop one day and I wired myself. I had a little microphone," he said. "I called a private detective! And I said, 'What do I do?' And he said, 'Just get one of those little voice recorders. Get one of these and do it.' And I was like, 'Okay.' So I go down there, just me."
When host James Corden and guest Niall Horan looked shocked by Bloom's fearlessness, the actor declared, "Listen, I'm from Kent, bro!"
Stephane Cardinale - Corbis/Corbis via Getty Images Orlando Bloom
As Bloom recalled, the man operating the shop was definitely "freaked out" to see him and asked that he return the next day. "I was like, 'Listen, no police, but I'd like to get my watches back,'" Bloom explained. "He's like, 'I've gotta go around. I've gotta rough some people up.' There's this whole story… I said, 'Well, let's go! Let's go! I'll rough some people up!'"
After the unsuccessful trip, Bloom was on him way home to celebrate Thanksgiving with his family when the man reached out and asked him to drive back. He then returned five of the 10 watches Bloom had stolen from him.
"On the table in his office is a box. I open it and I just started to cry," he said. "That market is so peculiar. Like, how do you offload the kinds of watches I had collected? It was very challenging. I got 'em back and that was that."
Bloom jokingly added, "I mean, honestly, I think it was Sofia Coppola who made The Bling Ring, but the movie of my getting the watches back probably would've been better."
Watch Bloom discuss the robbery in the clip above.
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