Orlando Bloom reveals ‘near-death experience’ that led to ‘quite a dark time’

‘My spinal cord was still just intact,’ actor said

Orlando Bloom has revealed a “near-death experience” that led him to “quite a dark time” in his life.

Speaking in a video posted on UNICEF’s Instagram in light of World Mental Health Day on Monday (10 October), Bloom described an incident that occurred when he was 19 years old.

“When I was 19 I fell three floors from a window and broke my back,” he said. “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.”

Bloom described the accident as the beginning of a “long and painful” journey for him to recognise and understand “some of the patterns that had been in my life that had led me to having numerous accidents”.

Bloom added that he underwent spinal surgery and his road to recovery included him wearing a brace.

“I would say the months after the fall were quite a dark time,” he added. “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.”

The actor has previously spoken about his fall, but this is the first time he’s opened up about how it affected his mental health.

Last year, the 45-year-old posted an image of himself to Instagram which depicted him wearing the back brace.

In the caption, he wrote: “That’s me in my back brace circa 1998 about three months after I fell three floors 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).”

Bloom is engaged to singer Katy Perry, 37, and they share a two-year-old daughter called Daisy Dove Bloom.