Britain’s Got Talent judge and music mogul Simon Cowell reflected on the horror electric bicycle crash that left him with a broken back in 2020
Simon Cowell revealed his surgeon feared he would never walk again after the music mogul broke his back in three places following a crash. The Britain’s Got Talent judge suffered a near-death experience and broke his back when he was thrown off his electric bike while testing it out at his home in Malibu, California.
Afterwards, he was treated for a concussion and a broken arm as well as a broken back. The fall resulted in Cowell having a metal rod put into his spine, amid multiple procedures and operations. In a recent chat with Elizabeth Day on the How To Fail podcast, Simon opened up about the impact of the crash.
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He admitted he ‘ could have died ‘ and his surgeon was concerned about whether they could ‘ fix ‘ his back.
Simon revealed: “He showed me the X-ray and he said ‘ Look, I’m not going to lie, Simon, I don’t know if I can fix this, which means you probably won’t walk and secondly, the operation could take 11 hours’.
” They said the obvious – it could go wrong – and all I could think about was my family and everything. In that moment you kind of realise the most important thing is your health and don’t do stupid things. “
The crash proved to be a ‘ wake-up call ‘ about his life and he learned to stop taking huge risks in his life”. It was a wake-up moment, which is I’m crazy, “he continued.
” It kind of happened for a reason because I thought I was fit but then when I had to do all the physio after, just walking, they make you walk very quickly, I pretty much couldn’t move and then I started to walk a lot and thought ‘ Oh God, I was in a really bad place’. “
Simon said he immediately realised he broke his back when he was thrown off the bike after it did a ‘ wheelie’. He added:” I shipped it in from England, couldn’t wait to drive it.
“I was in the driveway and my son was there and I pulled the throttle, it did the biggest wheelie and it threw me like 7-8ft in the air. I landed on my back and the second I landed I thought ‘ S**t, I know I’ve broken my back ‘ because I could feel it”. He was quick to check whether he could move his hands and feet, and when he realised he could, he thought ‘ that’s not too bad’.
Simon previously talked about his hobby after his second bike crash. Speaking to ex Terri Seymour on ExtraTV, he said: “My most creative time is now when I cycle, because I cycle even though it’s an e-bike. I still got to pedal and I do about 10 miles a day, even though I had an accident on one.
” That was more an electric motorbike, these are called pedal-assist bikes and they’re brilliant. That expression ‘ get back on your bike’, with me, it was literal. I feel better than I did because I exercise so much more.
“Honestly, if I could rewind, I would have gone through the whole thing again. Just because I feel better now. Yeah, even though it hurt like hell at the time”.
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Source: Mirror
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