Inside Orlando Bloom’s ‘Miraculous Recovery’ From a Near-Fatal Accident
Katy Perry and Orlando Bloom welcomed their daughter Daisy Dove Bloom into the world on Aug. 26. She joined Bloom’s son, Flynn Christopher Bloom, whom he had with ex-wife, Miranda Kerr. The role of “dad” is one the star doesn’t take lightly — especially after surviving a terrifying accident years earlier.
Orlando Bloom’s terrifying accident
You wouldn’t know by watching any of his films, but Bloom’s body has been through a lot. Long before the actor ever played Legolas in The Lord of the Rings films, or Will Turner in the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise, a near-fatal accident occurred.
“The NHS saved my life when I was 20 after I fell from a 3rd floor window and broke my back. Having lived in the US for nearly 20 years now it’s one of the public services from home I’ll always respect the most,” Bloom posted to Instagram.
The National Health Serviced (NHS) is the publically-funded healthcare system in the United Kingdom and they helped ensure Bloom could recover so that, eventually, he could become a father to his two children.
He laid, immobilized from the fall in a London hospital, fearing he’d never walk again.
“Before the operation, I needed four nurses to help me move,” he told Chicago Tribune. “Ten days later, I walked out of the hospital. I had a miraculous recovery.”
It’s more than a miraculous recovery. Bloom experienced more injuries while working on the set of different films.
Bloom had another accident while filming ‘LOTR’
Just after Bloom’s recovery from that 3rd story fall, director Peter Jackson discovered him in a play and cast him for the role of Legolas in LOTR. He went on to play the character of the Elvin prince for the original trilogy, then again for two iterations of The Hobbit.
With all the action sequences, and filming on location, Bloom sustained multiple different injuries during the LOTR schedule. In the DVD extras, co-star Dominic Monaghan explained.
“In all seriousness, everyone got hurt in this movie,” he said. “Everyone was scarred. Everyone went through a little bit of physical kind of pain. Orlando fell off his horse and the scale double of Gimli fell on top of Orlando and broke his rib.”
“I had scored an injury,” Orlando Bloom added. “I was the first one to score an injury and I think there was a little bit of jealousy that the hobbits didn’t get the opportunity. They didn’t get the opportunity to fall off a horse and break a rib.”
Bloom’s reasons for not participating in ‘LOTR’ series goes beyond injuries
Getting hurt is sometimes an unintentional part of the job. When actors like Bloom take action roles, they know what they’re in for. Still, it’s not the only reason the star wouldn’t consider returning to the LOTR universe. The
“I feel like I’ve done everything [I can.] I like to think of myself as ageless but I don’t know where I’d fit,” Bloom told Television Critics Association press tour when asked about reprising his LOTR role. He alluded to being too “old” for the part adding they should recast “probably a 19-year-old kid.”
