Orlando Bloom turned to social media to reminisce on a life-threatening fall he suffered in 1998, giving details of the incident.

On Friday, Aug. 27, the 44-year-old actor posted two photographs of himself riding a bike, one from the past and one from the present. “That’s me in my back brace, circa 1998 about 3 months after I fell 3 floors and crushed my spine, narrowly escaping death and paralysis,” he captioned the first photo on Instagram. “Grateful every day for my limbs that allow me to push my limits and live life on my edge (safer now).”

 

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Katy Perry, Bloom’s fiancée, responded on the photo, saying, “I love you.”

“So proud of you,” commented Miranda Kerr, the actor’s ex-wife.

Orlando had discussed the event in 2005, describing how he was climbing up to a roof terrace when the drainpipe he was clutching fell.

He told GQ:”Until then, I didn’t have a healthy appreciation for life and death — that we’re not invincible. And for four days, I faced the idea of living in a wheelchair for the rest of my life. I went to some dark places in my mind. I realized, I’m either going to walk again or I’m not.”

“But that accident has informed everything in my life,” he continued. “Until you’re close to losing it, you don’t realize. I used to ride motorbikes and drive cars like everything was a racetrack; it was ridiculous. It wasn’t because I thought it was cool; it was just because I loved living on the edge. But I’ve chilled.”

Bloom made a “miraculous recovery,” as he described it in an interview with The Guardian earlier this year, despite being told he could never walk again. The actor not only achieved a full recovery after several operations, but his career also skyrocketed as a result.

Despite the fact that the Pirates of the Caribbean actor was only in the hospital for a few weeks, the accident impacted his view on life.

He added: ‘When I came out of the hospital, I started partying straight away — with the back brace on. It took me a couple of months to realise this was my life, and I didn’t want to mess it up.

Bloom was able to ride a horse just 18 months after his injury when he got his part in the Lord of the Rings film series.

Orlando is now a hugely successful actor and devoted father of two children.