How a Near-Death Experience Made Orlando Bloom the Man He Is Today

Paul Schrodt

February 15, 2019 9:35 PM

Life is looking pretty great for Orlando Bloom right now. While the Pirates of the Caribbean and Lord of the Rings star may no longer be Hollywood's go-to blockbuster heartthrob, he's never looked better at 42. And the English actor just got engaged to global music superstar Katy Perry on Valentine's Day, with an objectively adorable mutual Instagram announcement .

Orlando Bloom Almost Died in a Fall When He Was 21

But it didn't always look so rosy for Bloom. While he's been a swashbuckler on the big screen, he's been nearly as active in his own onscreen life, taking on hobbies like mountain biking that have brought him perilously close to danger and even possible death.

View this post on Instagram Lifetimes A post shared by Orlando Bloom (@orlandobloom) on Feb 15, 2019 at 2:15am PST

In an interview from the October 2011 issue of Men's Health, Bloom shared the story of the fall that changed his life. At 21, he was dangling three stories above the ground, the result of a harebrained plan to bypass a locked door by shimmying onto a roof between two buildings. He fell.

"It was a 'holy shit' moment," the actor said. He looked down to the ground and realized, "There's nowhere for my feet to go!"

The fall broke his back, and doctors were doubtful that he'd walk again. "I'm grateful for it," he remembered in retrospect of this moment, calling it "the making of me."

He had surgery to put plates and screws into his spine, he went through rehab, and eventually, he walked. More stunningly, less than 18 months later, he was riding horseback in New Zealand for the filming of Lord of the Rings. Suddenly he was tapping into the same desire for physical risk that drove him off a roof, but using it to sell escapist adventures.

He hasn't forgotten about the injury. "I'm always working on my back," he said. "It hasn't prevented me from doing anything. But it's a constant reminder." He sticks to pilates for his core strength, lifts weights, and has dabbled in yoga. He's also really good at pullups . Biking is another passion, whether on a motorcycle or a mountain bike careening downhill. Over the years, he's learned to pad up and keep safety in mind, but he's broken ribs, both his legs, his nose, wrist, and even skull (cracked three times).

Why he does it is simple. He seeks "anything that brings me into my body and keeps me present. As opposed to out of your body, which is what we do the rest of the time. The world throws you out of your body, especially the cyberworld."

Paul Schrodt