Christopher Reeve said wife’s seven words saved his life after paralyzing accident

Reeve’s remarkable life is the subject of new documentary ‘Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story’

Christopher Reeve, the Superman actor who was paralyzed from the neck down in a horse-riding accident in 1995, recalls in documentary footage that he wanted to die before seven words from his wife Dana changed his perspective.

In the trailer for Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story, Reeve, who died in 2004 at age 52, says that during his initial recovery period he thought: “I ruined my life and everybody else’s. I won’t be able to ski, sail, throw a ball to Will. Won’t be able to make love to Dana. Maybe we should let me go.’”

He adds: “And then she said the words that saved my life: ‘You’re still you. And I love you.’”

Reeve first played the iconic superhero in 1978, before returning for sequels Superman II in 1980, Superman III in 1983 and Superman IV: The Quest for Peace in 1987.

The new documentary, which is produced by DC Studios, had its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival in January.

The film, which arrives in select theaters next month, is set to be an emotional look back at the actor’s rise to fame and the indomitable spirit that saw him become an advocate and campaigner for paralysis sufferers following his own accident. His advocacy work included leading the Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation and co-founding the Reeve-Irvine Research Center.

Christopher Reeve and his wife Dana attend the Christopher Reeve Paralysis Foundation Gala in New York in 2003 (Getty Images)

In 2003, he made two cameo appearances in the television series Smallville, and used them to promote the work of his foundation.

Elsewhere in the new trailer, Reeve’s son Matthew, 44, remembers the final moments he saw his father before the horrific incident when Reeve was thrown from his horse during an equestrian competition in Culpeper, Virginia.

“We said goodbye, he gave this wave,” remembers Matthew. “That was the last time I saw him on his feet.”

Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story includes interviews with Reeve’s three children Matthew, Alexandra, 40, and Will, 32, as well as his late wife Dana, who died in 2006 from lung cancer.

It also includes stories and memories from many of Reeve’s Hollywood friends including Whoopi Goldberg, Susan Sarandon, Jeff Daniels and Glenn Close.

Reeve’s son Will is set to make a cameo appearance in the forthcoming Superman film.

Will Reeve is a journalist and ABC news correspondent in real life and will play a TV reporter onscreen as the production pays homage to his father.

Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story is in select theaters on September 21.