Within the pantheon of beloved movie stars who have stood the tests of time and relevance, there are few that shine as brightly as Morgan Freeman.

The 86-year-old actor has been and done it all during his 50 years in the entertainment industry, and it’s fair to say he’s amassed a fair few fans along the way.

In fact, Freeman seems to have achieved the exceptionally rare feat of being virtually universally loved. He has *checks sheet* no scandals to his name, he’s known for his hard work ethic and stand-out performances in some of the best films ever made, and of course he boasts a soothing voice quite unlike any other around.

The Shawshank Redemption star has worn the skins of any number of different characters of the years, but there’s one thing fans have noticed that he likes to keep the same… his trademark golden earrings.

Now, if you consider yourself a Morgan Freeman fan, you’ll likely be familiar with the pair of golden earrings he wears when he’s out and about.

And it turns out there’s a special reason as to why he hasn’t traded them in.

As per reports, Freeman initially began wearing them as a young man, and they’ve been along for the ride through all the ups and downs of his long and glittering career.

Though today he’s one of the most beloved celebrities on the planet, Freeman actually struggled to catch a break in the beginning, at least where his profession is concerned.

Unlike most of the other male superstars of the film industry today, Freeman didn’t get his start as a child, or even as a young man. Instead, the actor was forced to wait until he was almost 50 years old before he got his chance. The 1986 film Street Smart would prove to be the pad from which he launched his career – the rest, as they say, is history.

Since then, Freeman’s gone from strength to strength on the big screen. He won an Oscar in 2005 thanks to his role in Million Dollar Baby, and earned Academy Award nominations for his work in films such the aforementioned Street Smart (1986), The Shawshank Redemption (1994), and Invictus (2014).

All told, his late-blooming career has reportedly netted Freeman a $250 million (£199m) fortune (as per Celebrity Net Worth). Yet the veteran actor has always appeared with the same set of gold earrings.

After much speculation, he recently revealed to fans just why he has elected to wear the hoops, telling fans in an Instagram post: “These earrings. I get asked all the time about them. The truth is, these are worth just enough for someone to buy me a coffin if I die in a strange place. That’s why sailors used to wear them and that’s why I do.”

Meanwhile, Freeman told Fox News in 2016 that he had also been inspired after seeing Burt Lancaster don a pair of golden earrings in the 1952 flick The Crimson Pirate.

“I thought that was sexy. Then I learned that sailors wore gold earrings to pay for funerals if they died in foreign lands. I’m a sailor, so that nailed it,” Freeman said.