Kevin Hart shared an emotional video nearly two months after being seriously injured in a car accident.
“Basically what you realize is that you’re not in control,” the stand-up comedian, 40, said at the beginning of the nearly two-minute Instagram video on Tuesday, October 29. “No matter how much you think you’re in control, you’re not in control. And at the end of the day, it can all be over, man.”
As Hart narrated, a message appeared on the screen that read, “September 1, 2019. I was involved in an accident. My world was forever changed.” It then transitioned into news coverage of the crash before showing footage of the actor wearing a back brace while being helped out of his hospital bed by two nurses. He had an oxygen mask on his face and needed to use a walker to move around the room.
“You know, when God talks, you gotta listen,” he said in the video. “I swear, life is funny because some of the craziest things that happen to you end up being the things you needed most. In this case, I honestly feel like God basically told me to sit down. You know, when you’re moving too fast, you’re doing too much, sometimes you can’t see the things that you’re meant to see. But after my accident, I see things differently. I see life from a whole new perspective, and my appreciation for life is through the roof.”
The video included clips of the Ride Along star doing physical therapy at a home gym and in his swimming pool as he recovered from the back injuries that he sustained. It ended with home videos of him with his wife, Eniko Hart, and his three children: Heaven, 14, Hendrix, 11, and Kenzo, 23 months.
“I’m thankful for my family, my friends. I’m thankful for the people that simply ride with me and have been with me, ‘cause you stood by me,” he narrated. “My fans, thankful for all of your love and support. So don’t take today for granted because tomorrow is not promised. More importantly, I’m thankful for God. I’m thankful for life. I’m thankful for simply still being here. The road to being a bigger and better version of me. Looking forward to an amazing 2020.”
Kevin was hospitalized on September 1 after his 1970 Plymouth Barracuda veered off a highway and landed in a ditch in the Calabasas neighborhood of Los Angeles. He was a passenger in the car, which his friend Jared Black had been driving. Black’s fiancée, Rebecca Broxterman, was also in the vehicle, but she managed to escape without any serious injuries.
The Jumanji: The Next Level star later underwent back surgery and spent nearly two weeks at an in-patient rehab facility to get back his strength.
“He is receiving physical therapy daily,” a source told Us Weekly earlier this month. “He is working very hard to rebuild his strength and come back strong. He can walk on his own but is nowhere near full recovery or ready to do action scenes. He is taking it very slowly.”
Physical therapist Dr. Karena Wu, who has not worked with Kevin, tells Us that it could take more than a year for the star to fully recuperate.
“If you’ve had a surgery, it’s definitely at least six to nine months, but definitely toward a year because the first four to six weeks is a protective phase,” she says. “Once you’ve done any sort of surgical intervention and any repair to any tissues, and then bone tissue takes the longest because it’s a hard tissue. So within the first four to six weeks, you start getting the bone cells laying down, but then they have to harden because they’re still fragile. So the body repairs itself, right, but if you are wanting to make it where you are normal, then that’s what takes that longer amount of time.”
