Being a Jackass star isn’t as easy as Johnny Knoxville makes it look!
This week, the reality star sat down with Howard Stern to promote the latest installation of the franchise, which hits theaters in February. While Johnny’s survived being shot out of a cannon and a motorcycle falling down onto his crotch, he admitted that one stunt in Jackass Forever almost knocked him out for good: being hit by a real life bull!
He recalled:
“The bull hit was the worst hit I’ve ever taken from a bull or maybe period.”
The 50-year-old went on to recall the hit left him with major injuries, including a broken wrist, broken ribs, and, oh — a brain hemorrhage that affected his “cognitive abilities”!
Related: Bam Margera SUES Johnny Over Jackass Firing
He added:
“I got a brain hemorrhage from that, so my cognitive abilities were in steep decline after that hit.”
While he’s recovered now, it was actually very serious at the time: Knoxville said he had scored a 17 out of 100 on a test for paying attention, elaborating:
“I had to go under all these type of treatments, this transcranial magnetic stimulation, which they buzz your head with these magnets for about 30 minutes at a time for like, oh God, I would say 10 to 12 treatments over a series of two months and it’s supposed to help with depression and, you know, help with my cognitive skills, so it was a tough one to come back from. I was trying to edit the movie at the time, but I couldn’t sit still.”
OMG!
To make matters worse, it wasn’t just his brain functions that were affected: Johnny’s mental health took a turn for the worse, too. Explaining that he also slipped into depression, something that apparently never happened to him before, the performer shared:
“My brain was just playing tricks on me. I got really depressed and over-focused on things. I did have to start medication for the first time in my life…It completely turned me around — that and, you know, doing therapy. It was a really hard recovery from this last injury, but I’m great now. I feel like I’m the healthiest I’ve ever been.”
Phew!
The father-of-three said the whole ordeal made him realize that there’s more to life than injuring oneself for entertainment, adding:
“I knew going into this film that after this I can’t…put myself on the line with stunts that can forever change my life, you know? After the bull hit, I’m like, I think I’ve done enough, right? I don’t have anything to prove.”
We guess no one can truly be a jackass forever! Ch-ch-check out the interview (below) for more.
[Image via Howard Stern/Paramount]
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