Sam Smith could no longer walk after tearing his cruciate ligament in a skiing accident

Sam Smith had to be rescued earlier this year after they suffered a skiing accident and were no longer able to walk.

“I completely tore my anterior cruciate ligament while skiing. I was an idiot and went down a black run on the second day,” the 32-year-old singer-songwriter, who uses they/them pronouns, said in an episode of the podcast “Sidetracked with Annie and Nick” on Thursday, July 18.

The “Unholy” singer, who had to be rescued from the ski slope by paramedics, added: “I was brought down in a blood bag. That was the worst. It’s a permanent thing.” As Smith explained, the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) is a knee ligament “between the bones and helps you jump and bounce around.”

According to the Mayo Clinic, these injuries are extremely painful, often require surgery, and take over a year to fully heal.

“It completely tore and I opted for non-surgical treatment. But I couldn’t walk with that leg for a month and it was horrible,” Smith continued. In January, Smith was photographed walking around New York City with a cane and a leg brace, according to the Daily Mail.

Smith had been touring for her album the previous year Gloria before the accident left them immobile. “It was the first time I couldn’t move and I had a bit of weight. I was very nervous,” they explained. “I used it as an excuse to pull myself together.”

Smith used his recovery time to focus on his physical and mental healing, which included taking a break from making music and completely disconnecting from social media.

“I just threw away my phone and got a new one,” they said on “Sidetracked.” “It’s the first time I haven’t had my music library that I’ve had since I was about 11. I started again – completely over. I needed an American number and my phone was just full of people, like ex-boyfriends and all these different people over the years.”

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They noted, “And I turned off social media. Everything. It’s crazy. Now I sit on benches in parks and just look at the trees.”

Smith is not the first celebrity to suffer a similar injury this year. Over the weekend Aubrey Plaza suffered a torn ACL during a Knockout game at the Phoenix Mercury training facility on Saturday, July 20. Despite the injury, she attended the WNBA All-Star game that same evening, albeit with crutches and an ice pack around her knee.

“I feel for Aubrey Plaza. She came in this weekend with a healthy knee. She leaves the game with a torn ACL that came from a tough ‘knockout’ game at the Mercury Training Center,” sports commentator Ryan Ruocco said during the game.