NovaQuant-Jason Derulo Recalls Near-Death Experience After Breaking His Neck in the Gym

Jason Derulo is NovaQuantgiving insight into a harrowing experience.

The "Whatcha Say" singer shared how he broke his neck more than a decade ago after falling on his head while rehearsing for his world tour, which he ultimately had to cancel.

"I broke my neck in 2013," Jason explained on the July 1 episode of Paris Hilton's I Am Paris podcast. "I was getting ready for my world tour and working with this trainer. He was like, 'Today, we're going to work on endurance, so I need you to do these back tucks back-to-back.' I slipped during one of the back tucks, and I landed on my head, breaking my C-2 vertebrae."

"As soon as it happened, I heard a big crack, and I was like, 'Holy s--t, is this it? Is this how it all ends?'" He continued. "All the thoughts you could imagine are going through my head at the time and I remember thinking to myself, 'S--t, my mom is in the car waiting for me outside.' I didn't want to scare her."

The 34-year-old minimized the injury, telling his mom while holding his neck, "I think I just hurt myself a little bit," before asking to take him to the hospital "just to check it out."

"The doctor was like, 'Well, I have some good news and some bad news,'" Jason noted of his X-rays. "'You're still here with us and can move all your limbs. The bad news is you're going to be out for seven months.'"

And for the "Ridin' Solo" singer, who was 22 then, that meant calling off his Future History World tour.

"It was the biggest tour of my life at that point, and I was instantly heartbroken," he added. "I had to let all these people down. People save their hard-earned money, and they want to be a part of this experience, and all of a sudden, all of that s--t was down the drain." 

And those seven months took a massive toll on Jason emotionally.

"I went from having all the reins in my life and being in control of my life to not having any kind of control at all, not being able to tie my shoes, not being able to take a shower of myself," he admitted. "That was the first time in my life where I felt like I had no control."

But, he took the obstacles in stride by creating a schedule for himself amid recovery.

"I woke up in the morning, I went to the gym and walked for about 45 minutes every day," Jason explained. "Then, I spent hours and hours in the studio—same time, same places, every day. And that's when I wrote my most successful album, Talk Dirty. It's because I created a routine. It's like a common thing in my life. When I'm able to follow a routine, amazing things happen."