Nina Dobrev can walk without crutches for the first time after a bicycle accident

Three months after suffering a serious knee injury in a dirt bike accident, Nina Dobrev can walk without crutches again – and talks about the “brutal” road to recovery.

The Vampire Diaries The 35-year-old star shared the news in an Instagram post on Sunday, July 28, as she left the Ritz Hotel in Paris with her boyfriend Shaun White using only a walking stick.

In the new post, Dobrev tells, in vulnerable excerpts, from her first accident to her first “baby steps” without help.

“Three months ago today was my first and last time on an electric dirt bike,” Dobrev said in the video. “After losing control and crashing the bike – and a not-so-brief hospital stay – I learned that my ACL was completely torn, my meniscus was torn, and I had a fracture in my tibial articular surface. Not ideal.”

Then, the star recalled, she learned she would have to wait three weeks for surgery – and also endure the “horrific” experience of doctors draining blood from her knee.

“A lot of people have been asking how I’m doing, so I made this video to share my progress and experience,” Dobrev continued. “But I also wanted to show other people who are either going through the same thing or about to go through it that there is a light at the end of the tunnel if you stick with it.”

“And try to laugh a little while you do it,” she added over clips of herself giggling with White, 37. “It’s nature’s best medicine.”

The actress went on to say that she was “quite nervous” and “anxious” about the procedure because she had “never had such a major operation before, so it was really scary.”

But, she continued, “it was a success” and she was able to quickly start physical therapy again.

“I’ll be honest with you. The knee was so swollen. I was in so much pain. It was the most brutal recovery I could have ever imagined,” she explained, adding, “Without my friends and my incredible support system, I don’t know how I would have managed it.”

She described the “brutal” experience as follows: “Of course there is physical pain associated with the operation and recovery, but I was not necessarily prepared for the psychological stress that would come with it.”

“Not being able to walk, go to the bathroom on my own or carry a drink was a real challenge. I’m a very independent person, so having to rely on other people was really hard for me,” she continued. “This whole experience tested me physically and mentally, but over time I made progress. Every day, one step at a time, one exercise at a time, one piece of bacon at a time, I got stronger and stronger, but at times it was exhausting.”

“It’s crazy how we take basic things for granted,” she later added.

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In the video’s caption, Dobrev reiterated her philosophy that laughter is “nature’s best medicine” by making a pun about her injury.

“I’m glad I don’t have to carry these crutches on my knees anymore. They finally gave me Christopher WALKen. Okay, dad jokes aside…” she wrote. “‘Get ready’ is a long video and an even longer caption. The last one 😂🫣.”

In the caption, Dobrev also wrote that her injury was a message from the universe “that you don’t really want to hear.”

In her case, she said, “the universe didn’t ask for it… it told me to slow down.”