Simon Cowell feared he'd never walk again after horror accident

To say that Simon Cowell has made a name for himself is an understatement. However, even though he might have millions of dollars in the bank, it doesn’t make him invincible or safe from injury. Some years ago, Cowell crashed his electircaöl bike, which put him in the hospital. In a new interview, he now reveals that it was so bad that he feared he’d never walk again.

Simon Cowell has created a fabulous life for himself. From first working at and later launching his own record labels, the now 65-year-old conquered the music business straight to the top. He is also the creator of America’s Got Talent and has served as a judge on the show for over 20 years.

However, life can come at you quickly, something Simon Cowell has experienced as he went through something in 2020 that could have changed his life forever. He was involved in a serious accident as he fell off his electric bike in the courtyard of his home in Malibu, California, and was taken to the hospital. He had to undergo surgery to repair a broken back.

Cowell was “doing” fine following the six-hour surgery, which included the placement of a metal rod. Things really could’ve turned out way worse than they did. It forced him to miss the beginning of the season’s live show America’s Got Talent.

“Some good advice… If you buy an electric trail bike, read the manual before you ride it for the first time,” Cowell wrote on Twitter, now X, thanking fans and friends for their “kind messages.”

Even though his message seemed calming for his fans, things weren’t really as good as he might’ve said. Speaking with ExtraTV, Cowell explained that he was shocked once he saw the X-ray.

Simon Cowell broke his back in 2020

“I knew I’d broken my back the minute I landed. It was really, really kind of sudden and it hurt,” he said. “It could have been a lot worse. When I saw the X-ray, I really nearly could have smashed my spine to pieces, so I literally wouldn’t have been able to walk.”

Doctors told him that he should lie down and rest, and he knew that he wasn’t supposed to move. However, Cowell did the opposite. According to a People source, he was walking around just two days after his surgery.

“I was thinking, ‘I’ve got to get back into the house because I can’t lie there’, and made myself kind of get carried into my bedroom, which is right there at the beginning of the house, and I’m lying there and I’m kind of passing out… It was surreal,” he said.

Cowell had tested the new electric bike with son Eric. The hardest part for him was recovering from the accident at home, which he thought was embarrassing to do in front of his son.

“I was so embarrassed about coming home looking about 100 because I couldn’t walk, and I have these metal rods in my back and these screws,” Cowell explained. “I said, ‘Lauren, I just don’t know how to explain it to Eric.’ She obviously said something to him because he came in and I was lying in bed and he said, ‘Daddy, you’re like Ironman,’ and I thought that was the sweetest thing and it meant a lot.”

Simon Cowell feared he would never walk again

It took about a year before Simon could walk again. While he was said to have tried walking just days after the accident, the recovery process was a nightmare as he struggled with “helplessness.”

“I’ve never been in this situation in my life where you literally can’t move. The pain was off the charts,” he told People Magazine in 2021. “But you’ve got to stay positive… I made a promise to myself I’d be fitter than I was before I had the accident. Sure enough, that’s what happened.”

Simon Cowell has fully healed from the horrific accident and is enjoying life just as before. In early May, he appeared on the YouTube channel How to Fail with Elizabeth Day and opened up about the accident.

“We had to do the X-rays, and [my surgeon] showed me the X-ray, and I’m like, ‘God.’ He said, ‘Look, I’m not gonna lie, Simon. Number one, I don’t know if I can fix this, which means you probably won’t walk. And secondly, the operation’s going to take maybe 11 hours. So, stating the obvious, it could go wrong.’ And at that moment I’m like, ‘Oh, gosh.'”

Cowell described how the bike “threw me seven or eight feet in the air” after he had pulled the throttle. The bike performed a so-called “wheelie,” and as soon as he landed on the ground, he knew, “I’ve broken my back.” At first, Cowell assumed that since he could still move his fingers and toes, the injury wasn’t too serious. However, things changed quickly.

“All I kept thinking about was, you know, my family and everything. In that moment you kind of realize the most important thing is your health and don’t do stupid things,” Cowell said, laughing.

“I actually feel better than I did before the accident”

While no one wants to break their back, in Simon Cowell’s case, it appears as if it has brought something positive.

“I’ve got to be honest with you, it wasn’t that bad actually breaking your back,” he told People some years ago. “I mean it wasn’t great for 3-4 weeks but after that you get through it, I had to do so much exercise now. I actually feel better than I did before the accident.”

Cowell continued by joking that “if you want to feel healthier, break your back,” and that the America’s Got Talent cast “had a better time without me.”

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