After being hit by a bull in his upcoming movie, Johnny Knoxville details his "really hard" recovery.
Johnny Knoxville has survived being shot out of a cannon and a motorcycle falling down onto his crotch, but when it came to his recent stunt with a bull, the 50-year-old daredevil faced some life-changing firsts.
In a new sit-down with Howard Stern, the action star, who is set to appear in the newest installment of the Jackass franchise in February, recalled the intense aftermath of being hit by a bull in the upcoming film, Jackass Forever.
"The bull hit was the worst hit I've ever taken from a bull or maybe period," he told Stern. Knoxville had the injuries to prove it: a broken wrist, broken ribs and brain injury.
"I got a brain hemorrhage from that, so my cognitive abilities were in steep decline after that hit," he said. While he's able to laugh at himself now, it wasn't a joking matter at the time. For one, he had scored a 17 out of 100 on a test for paying attention.
"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," Knoxville recalled. "I was trying to edit the movie at the time, but I couldn’t sit still."
Knoxville also slipped into depression, something he said hadn't happened to him before.
“My brain was just playing tricks on me. I got really depressed and over-focused on things," he told Stern. "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."
Healthy -- and perhaps, at peace.
"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?" the father of three said. "After the bull hit, I’m like, I think I’ve done enough, right? I don’t have anything to prove."
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