Nick Jonas has revealed that his close friendship with Glen Powell was forged in one of the most terrifying ways imaginable, a flight that went so wrong it left one of the pilots in tears on landing.
The singer and actor, 33, shared the story during a Friday, 5 June appearance on Live with Kelly and Mark, describing the incident as something that happened almost a decade ago when he and Powell were in Las Vegas together with a group of friends.
“On the way home, the plane basically took off and then, I don’t know the technical term for it, but there was an issue with the power. Which is never a good thing, obviously,” Jonas told hosts Kelly Ripa and Mark Consuelos.
He couldn’t resist noting the timing relative to Powell’s career.
“This is pre-Top Gun: Maverick Glen Powell, so he was in flight training, but he couldn’t have landed the plane like he can now,” he joked.
“He was just regular old Glen Powell. So you know, had this happened a couple weeks ago, different story.”
The full gravity of the situation only became clear once they were safely back on the ground.
When Consuelos asked whether the pilots had appeared visibly shaken, Jonas replied with a nervous laugh: “One of them was crying when we landed.” He described the moment as a rather unwelcome recalibration of how serious things had actually been.
“I was thinking, ‘Okay, maybe it wasn’t as bad as I sort of felt like it was.’ And then I saw him crying. I was like, ‘Oh no, this was bad.'” Ripa added that she always watches the flight attendants for signs of concern, Jonas confirmed they too had looked worried.
Consuelos suggested the shared ordeal must have left the pair feeling bonded for life, prompting Ripa to offer a more clinical diagnosis: “That’s called a trauma bond.”
Jonas agreed entirely.
“That’s literally what that is. And you know, Glen’s the best. I think from that moment on, we’ve just built a great friendship.”
Jonas is currently promoting Power Ballad, his new film with Paul Rudd, which is now in cinemas. He also has Jumanji: Open World arriving on 25 December.
