I’ve jumped a few buses in my times… and more than a few birds, jokes Eddie Kidd after Top Gear tribute
FORMER stuntman Eddie Kidd is back in the fast lane after appearing on Top Gear and shows no signs of slowing down The 62-year-old daredevil, who suffered life-changing injuries when a motorbike jump went wrong in 1996, left viewers “in bits” with his inspiring story on the popular BBC One show last Sunday. And The […]
FORMER stuntman Eddie Kidd is back in the fast lane after appearing on Top Gear and shows no signs of slowing down
The 62-year-old daredevil, who suffered life-changing injuries when a motorbike jump went wrong in 1996, left viewers “in bits” with his inspiring story on the popular BBC One show last Sunday.
And The Sun was with him as he made an emotional speech on Thursday – read on his behalf by his partner Billie Mobayed – where he spoke of the extraordinary obstacles he has overcome.
Admitting that he considered suicide before pal Uri Geller stepped in to give him the will to live again, three-times married Eddie said: “Living was a challenge but I have faced many challenges in my life, the biggest [of them] women, but always managed to execute them no matter how insane they seemed to others.”
Top Gear has been a shot in the arm for the former James Bond stuntman – who was a pin-up in the 80s and 90s and the UK’s biggest biker.
Host Paddy McGuiness, 48, burst into tears during the emotional segment and leaped through a ring of fire on a motorbike to pay tribute to his “childhood hero” Eddie.
Speaking exclusively to The Sun from their home in Brighton, his long-term partner Billie Mobayed says: “The reaction to Top Gear has been enormous.
“He’s got a whole new league of fans out there who didn’t know he existed.
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“His Instagram went from 2,000 followers to 15,000 in just days.
“Eddie had been forgotten for so many years but now he’s back in the limelight getting the recognition he deserves.”
Just four days after the show aired, The Sun joined Eddie and Billie at a star-studded charity event in Gibraltar where he lifted the lid on his life-changing injuries for the first time in years during an emotional – and at times cheeky – speech.
As Eddie – who’s a mental health ambassador for Homeless Worldwide – cannot walk or talk unaided, Billie was his “voice” for the evening and read out his words.
“It is hard to tell you my story but it is written all over my body,” Eddie said in his speech.
“I live a very happy and fulfilled life with my partner Billie, my fantastic family, three children and three wonderful grandchildren.
“This wasn’t always the case. After my crash I wanted to die, kill myself, commit suicide as I just didn’t know how to carry on
“I went from hero to zero in a split second.”
In August 1996 Eddie was performing at a Hell’s Angel rally at Long Marston airfield in Warwickshire when he was seriously injured.
In an interview three years later he said: “I never used to touch anything before jumping in case it impaired my judgement, but the night before the accident I took cocaine and I’d been drinking.
“I was to jump 50ft over a moving jet car and land on a hill. When I got there, they hadn’t built the scaffolding which would stop me falling down the other side of the bank. Neither were there cardboard boxes to break a fall.
“My mechanic told me not to do the jump, but there were 20,000 people there, and I didn’t want to let them down.
I went from hero to zero in a split second
Eddie Kidd
“That’s the one thing I regret — maybe I should have been selfish.”
The landing was so hard that Eddie’s face hit the bike and he fell 20 feet, breaking his pelvis and collar bone, damaging his neck and causing brain damage.
He added: “If I hadn’t been so fit, I would have died.”
He was in a coma for more than three months and is now confined to a wheelchair, unable to talk or walk unaided and requires full-time care.
In his speech, Eddie revealed that it was an unlikely celebrity pal who brought him back from the brink.
He said: “On my daughter Candie’s 14th birthday I received a recording from my dear friend Uri Geller urging me to wake up.
“And just like that, Sleeping Beauty woke to kiss again.
“I had to learn how to do everything from scratch — to talk, to walk, to laugh, even to taste, and although not a bad thing, everything tasted of strawberries.”
In the days and weeks that followed, Eddie had to try to piece his life back together.
But throughout the trauma he has held on to his trademark sense of humour.
With a twinkle in his eye he said: “I jumped a few buses in my time — and a few more birds than that.”
Despite being in showbiz wilderness for the past 30-odd years he is still instantly recognisable and a hit with the ladies who excitedly stopped him for selfies at the glitzy do.
In his heyday, with his chiselled good looks and six-pack, the former Levi model was a pin-up and married three times.
His first wife was Debbie Ash, of 1980s dance troupe Hot Gossip and sister of actress Leslie. They were together for four years and their daughter Candie is now 39.
I had to learn how to do everything from scratch — to talk, to walk, to laugh, even to taste, and although not a bad thing, everything tasted of strawberries
Eddie Kidd
In 1994, when he was 35, Eddie married Stringfellows waitress Sarah Carr and they had one son, Jack, now 26.
He also has another son, 21-year-old Callum, with physiotherapy worker Olive Reynolds, who he met at a Hertfordshire rehabilitation centre after his accident.
In 2007 he wed his third wife, Samantha Kirli, but they split up in 2012. She pleaded guilty to four counts of assaulting Eddie, including punching, kicking and throttling him.
Today, Eddie is in a happy relationship with Billie, who he has been friends with for more than 20 years but in a romantic relationship for four.
She used to run a modelling agency in Dubai before she became his full-time carer.
During the moving speech, which reduced the crowd to tears, Eddie reflected on the highlights of his career.
He said: “I became bigger than my hero Evel Knievel, became a world champion stunt rider, stunt double to numerous Bonds – yep, I made James Bond look good – and I jumped the Great Wall of China.”
He’s not joking. Eddie started his risky career at just 14 years old – before he even had a driving license.
In 1987, he was a stunt double for Timothy Dalton in the Living Daylights and Pierce Brosnan in Goldeneye 1995.
One of his most famous stunts was as Harrison Ford in the film Hanover Street where he jumped 120ft across a railway line at 90mph in 1979.
In 1988, he modelled in a Levis Ad advertising their new black 501’s. He was dubbed The Black Knight.
He also doubled for Val Kilmer, Roger Moore and Michael Caine and starred in a movie called Riding High as the main character Dave Mundy.
He also released five records in the 1970s and 80s.
In 1993, he jumped the Great Wall of China. Hilariously, the mayor of the local town said he missed it and asked if he could do it again.
Incredibly, in 2011 Eddie walked the London Marathon in 50 days in a specialised walker raising hundreds of thousands of pounds for Children with Cancer UK
That same year, he beat Robbie Knivel – the son of Evil Knievel who was supposed to be a better jumper than his father – in a jump off. Eddie’s triumph over three jumps cemented his position as the world’s best.
But in the wake of his accident, Eddie had to find new ways to push himself.
“I had always had challenges to look forward to and I needed to create a new one,” he said in his speech. “To inspire others to keep going too. I set daily, weekly, monthly and yearly goals, until I was ready for the big one.”
Incredibly, in 2011 Eddie walked the London Marathon in 50 days in a specialised walker raising hundreds of thousands of pounds for Children with Cancer UK.
In 2012, 16 years after his accident, he received an OBE, presented to him by Prince Charles.
According to Eddie, the heir to the throne commented: “About bloody time isn’t it”, to which he replied, “Cheers Big Ears.”
Eddie added: “It was a great achievement and I think the most important and relevant one of my life.“
It gave me my dignity back, my self worth, it gave me the ability to inspire others to fight on , to never to give up and always have hope.
“My mental health is a state of being in which, through my trauma, I realised my ability, to stay in touch, stay active, stay positive, I found something I was good at …giving back.”
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