In honor of World Mental Health Day, Pirates of the Caribbean actor Orlando Bloom opened up about one of the "darkest times" of his life when he was told he may never walk again after sustaining a serious back injury when he was 19.
Bloom, who rose to superstardom portraying Legolas in The Lord of the Rings film series, is a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador.
The 45-year-old is also the recipient of the BAFTA Britannia Humanitarian Award, an honor recognizing those in the entertainment industry to promote social changes and bring awareness to important humanitarian issues.
In a UNICEF Instagram video post about mental health, Bloom shared:
“When I was 19 I fell three floors from a window and broke my back."
"I was very fortunate to survive the fall because my spinal cord was still just intact.”
You can view the Instagram clip, here.
At the hospital following his accident, he received alarming news.
"I was told for the first four days that I may never walk again."
Bloom continued:
"That was really the beginning of what was a long and painful journey for me into recognizing and understanding some of the patterns that had been in my life that had led me to having numerous accidents."
"And the culmination was breaking my back, which was a near-death experience.”
Following his surgery, he wore a back brace to enable him to start physical therapy, and after 12 days, he was able to walk out of the hospital on crutches.
He recalled the moment as being "really remarkable and unheard of."
However, the struggles continued when he returned home.
“I would say the months after the fall were quite a dark time."
"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.”
In spite of the pain, he said he was able to take advantage of the time and space of his recovery period to change his outlook and truly embrace what was good in his life.
Bloom stressed the importance of addressing mental health, adding the subject is “particularly challenging because it’s unseen.”
“There is always an opportunity for you to transform the pain, whether it be physical or mental, into the great, good fortune of your life."
"And it is so important to reach out to people, to talk to people, to find somebody, in order to create the possibility for communication that leads to transformation and change.”
People praised the actor for opening up about mental health and his past struggles.
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His story inspired others to share their own.
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@unicef and @orlandobloom/Instagram
Bloom concluded by leaving viewers with the following proposal.
"It starts with one moment, one conversation, it starts with one question–'What's on your mind?'"
October 10 is internationally recognized as World Mental Health Day.
The annual awareness program provides an opportunity for thousands of supporters to celebrate and raise awareness of mental illness and its effects on people's lives worldwide.
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