When to Orlando Bloom lo fibraron to play Legolas en The Lord of the rings he had just graduated two days ago from drama school. She was just 22 years old and had very (but very) little experience in front of the cameras. It was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, so he packed his bags and went to New Zealand, learning archery and getting used to a blonde wig that, in his entire outfit, ended up making him an iconic figure for fans of the hit trilogy.
However, at that time only three years had passed since the episode that changed his life forever. A tragedy that made him live through a dark stage but that ended up awakening his conscience, learning to appreciate life in another way.
The 45-year-old actor shared his story on Instagram, trying to do his bit for the World Mental Health Day celebration that took place on October 10. And he did it by sharing the terrible accident that he suffered at the age of 19 and that took him to dark corners, mentally and emotionally.
Orlando Bloom, who serves as a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador, says he fell three stories out of a window and broke his back. “For the first four days I was told that I would probably never walk again.” reveal to his followers. “That was really the beginning of what was a long and painful journey for me to recognize and understand some of the patterns in my life that had led to numerous accidents. And the culmination was breaking my back, which was a near-death experience.”
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After undergoing a complicated surgery and leaving the hospital on crutches twelve days later, he entered a mental and emotional loop that left him in a dark phase for several months. “As someone who had always been very active in my life, I suddenly felt very restrictive and in a lot of pain.”.
In his case, the injury gave him “time and space” to stop his lifestyle, taking risks and always living on the edge, to observe and recognize the wonders that surrounded him. And so he began to embed this new way of thinking into his recovery and, consequently, his way of living life. “There is always an opportunity to transform pain, physical or mental, into the greatest fortune of your life” explains about the lesson he learned and applied for the good of his mental health.
Orlando Bloom had already commented on what happened on his networks through a photograph taken three months after the accident. In the image, published in 2021, he appears on a bicycle wearing a back support and was thankful for his “limbs”, which allow him “push my limits and live my life on the edge (more confidently now).”
In turn, the father of two children and Katy Perry’s fiancé had already talked about this experience in 2005 for the magazine GQ, detailing that he fell when the drainage pipe he was climbing collapsed. It is in this interview that the actor goes into details that allow us to better understand the lesson learned.
Because according to his words, until the day of the accident, “I didn’t have a healthy appreciation of life and death.” Basically, like most human beings in adolescence, he believed that he was “invincible”.
He spent four days dealing with the idea of spending the rest of his life in a wheelchair, thinking that he would live prostrate staring at the ceiling as he was doing in the hospital. A conception that must be very difficult to process at any age. Upon leaving the hospital, he soon went out partying and it was only months later that he began to process what had happened, to realize that he only had one life to live. “That accident informed everything in my life” explained. “Until you’re about to lose it, you don’t realize it. I used to ride motorcycles and drive cars like everything was a race track, it was ridiculous.”
“I didn’t do it because I thought it was cool, but because I loved living on the edge. But I’ve relaxed.” explained.
With this accident Orlando Bloom he woke up from the invincible cloud in which he lived, taking unnecessary risks and learning to recognize and appreciate how lucky he was. “When you experience the kind of physical pain I went through, you realize you’re not a god.”he said in 2005, “that there are limits to what you can do. It keeps you real. I mean, I can walk. I can enjoy a swim in the sea and a beautiful day and I was very close to not having that“.