Crowe recalled, "That was the first [time] I'd ever heard the phrase al-Qaida. It was about - and here's another little touch of irony - taking iconographic Americans out of the picture as a sort of cultural destabilisation plan."

The actor said the U.S. learned of the plot from sources overseas.

"And it was something to do with some recording picked up by a French policewoman, I think, in either Libya or Algiers," Crowe said.

The FBI kept Crowe under protective surveillance at the Golden Globe awards ceremony and through filming of "A Beautiful Mind" and "Master and Commander." Crowe said he had also hired private security.

"I never fully understood what the f*** was going on. Suddenly, it looks like I think I'm f***ing Elvis Presley, because everywhere I go there are all these FBI guys around," Crowe said.

The original threat was received just before the Golden Globe awards on January 21, 2001 – where Crowe lost out to "Castaway's" Tom Hanks for the top award before winning the Oscar.

CNN on Wednesday night confirmed Crowe's account from the FBI.

An FBI spokesman said at the time: "We received word of a possible kidnap attempt ... we regard this as a serious matter."

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