Reality TV star ‘millimetres from death’ in horror crash

Popstar To Opera Star winner Darius Campbell has revealed he was just three millimetres from death after a horror crash in which he broke his neck.

The singer – who first found fame on TV’s Popstars then Pop Idol – declared: “I feel like the luckiest man alive.”

Speaking about the accident for the first time, he tells the new edition of Hello! magazine he turned down an operation because he feared it may damage his voice.

Mr Campbell – formerly known as Darius Danesh – said his “trauma compression injury” was similar to that suffered by Superman actor Christopher Reeve who was paralysed after a horse riding accident.

The 30-year-old stage star, who is still in a neck brace, was a passenger in a Porsche when it hit a wall at 70mph after skidding on oil during a sunshine break in Spain.

The impact caused one of his vertebrae to crack down the middle. He was told by a nurse: “Three millimetres this way, you no walk; three millimetres that way, you dead.”

Mr Campbell added: “It was like how you’d talk to a baby, but I knew what she was trying to say – I was the luckiest man alive.”

He said the accident happened on a “lads’ driving holiday” as they drove on a motorway in searing heat.

“Because of the haze, we didn’t see that there was a diesel spill on the road. Before we could work out what was going on, it was already too late.

“The car careered out of control on a bend, and we smashed into a wall at 70 mph. My first recollection is my friend, the driver, asking if I was okay.”

He continued: “After getting out of the car, I remember a sharp pain in my neck. The adrenaline carried me for 30 seconds or so, and then I collapsed.”

Initially he was unable to feel any sensation below his elbows, but the feeling returned as the swelling subsided.

The bone needs time to heal, but he said: “I’m so lucky that I’ve got no neurological damage.”

Mr Campbell’s smash happened last month, but he still needs daily physiotherapy. In London, doctors advised surgery which would eliminate the risk of problems in future but the singer worried that it could damage his vocal cords and turned it down.

“It could have a major effect on my singing voice,” he said.

Mr Campbell, who is back in Los Angeles where he now lives with girlfriend Natasha Henstridge, added: “I’m so happy to be alive. I’ve definitely used up one of my nine lives.”