Simon Cowell Broke Back in Multiple Places, Nearly Left Paralyzed After Crash
The normally stoic Simon Cowell has been enjoying a good amount of quarantine outdoors. The judge who speaks his mind on various talent shows seems to have a soft spot for camping in the yard with his 6-year-old son, Eric.
The 60-year-old celebrity has taken a renewed interest in his health starting last year. He’s eating better, exercising more and spending more time with his son and girlfriend.
“I’m doing a bit of cooking,” he told Extra in May. “I’m exercising. Funny enough, more during this time as well, sticking to the diet.”
“I think I have dropped, since I started this diet a year ago, 60 pounds.”
Perhaps in an effort to up his outdoor time, Cowell recently bought an electric bike that he tried out at his home in California. Somehow, with the whole family (girlfriend Lauren, their son Eric and her son Adam) gathered around, he managed to fall and break his back.
Various sources spoke to the New York Post’s Page Six about the incident.
“He did a turn in his courtyard, changed gear, and then the bike went into a wheelie and threw him off the back … Simon was in complete agony and was stretchered out of his home and taken in an ambulance to hospital,” one source said. “Friends at the scene quickly checked that he could move fingers and toes — he could have been paralyzed.”
Doctors said Cowell narrowly missed severing his spinal cord, according to the report.
“When he fell off the bike he landed right on his back which broke in a number of places,” one said, according to Page Six.
“He was in shock and in massive amounts of pain.”
“Lauren went with him to the hospital and has been allowed in briefly to see him. He’s doing OK in the circumstances.”
Cowell’s representative confirmed to E! News that he had “broken his back in a number of places.”
He underwent a six-hour surgery on Saturday, but by all accounts is resting and healing well. According to what friends told Page Six, he now has a metal rod in his back.
Cowell is doing well enough to post on social media, so on Sunday he posted a suitably dry review of the incident on Twitter and Facebook.
“Some good advice…” the post began. “If you buy an electric trail bike, read the manual before you ride it for the first time.
“I have broken part of my back. Thank you to everyone for your kind messages.
“And a massive thank you to all the nurses and doctors. Some of the nicest people I have ever met. Stay safe everyone.”
And a massive thank you to all the nurses and doctors. Some of the nicest people I have ever met.
Stay safe everyone
Simon.— Simon Cowell (@SimonCowell) August 10, 2020
While Cowell will need to heal up before trying any such stunt again, his friends say the bedrest will be brutal for him.
“Knowing Simon, he’ll be ready to go home as soon as they’ll let him,” one said. “He’s going to hate being cooped up.”
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