The 'Pirates of the Caribbean' actor recalls his long, painful journey to be able to walk again after falling from third floor and breaking his back in a near-death accident.
- Oct 13, 2022
AceShowbiz - Orlando Bloom struggled with a "dark time" after suffering a near-death experience at 19. After falling and breaking his back as a teenager, the 45-year-old actor admits that the injury left him in a negative frame of mind.
"When I was 19, I fell three floors from a window and broke my back. I was very fortunate to survive the fall because my spinal cord was still just intact. I was told for the first four days that I may never walk again," Orlando explained in a video shared on Instagram by UNICEF.
"That was really the beginning of what was a long and painful journey for me into recognising and understanding some of the patterns that had been in my life that had led me to having numerous accidents. And the culmination was breaking my back, which was a near-death experience."
The Hollywood star underwent spinal surgery and his recovery was a complicated process. Orlando recalled being in a "dark" frame of mind as he made a slow recovery from injury.
He said, "I would say the months after the fall were quite a dark time. As somebody who'd sort of always been very active in my life, it felt very restrictive all of a sudden and I was in a lot of pain."
Last year, Orlando took to Instagram to share a throwback snap of himself amid his recovery. The actor posted a photo of himself riding a bike while also wearing a back brace.
He captioned the image, "That's me in my back brace circa 1998 about 3months after I fell 3floors and crushed my spine, narrowly escaping death and paralysis…grateful everyday for my limbs that allow me to push my limits and live life on my edge (safer now [prayer emoji]) (sic)."
