Jason Derulo Opens Up About Suffering 'Darkest Time' in Life After he Endured 'Hangman's' Broken Neck
Jason Derulo recalled the terrifying moment he broke his neck during a rehearsal in 2013.
Jan. 17 2025, Published 5:30 p.m. ET
Jason Derulo was left drowning in depression after a terrifying freak accident in 2013.
RadarOnline.com can reveal the singer plunged into his "darkest time" after breaking his neck while rehearsing a risky move for his Future History World Tour — which he was ultimately forced to cancel due to the circumstances.
Derulo was forced to cancel his 2013 tour due to breaking his neck and needing to take a long break.
During an appearance on the Great Company Podcast, Derulo, 35, detailed the terrifying moment he fell on his head and broke a vertebrae in his spine during tour rehearsal.
The Swalla hitmaker revealed the fall caused a "hangman's break" – the same type of injury from a hanging – and forced him to take a seven-month hiatus to recover.
The singer said he went through his 'darkest time' during that seven-month period.
He explained: "My darkest time was definitely when I broke my neck, that was for sure the darkest.
"So, I was preparing for my tour and I was working on these back tucks for stamina.
"So, we're doing back-to-backs, we would stop for a while, take a break, and we'll do like 20, back-to-back and I slipped on one and I bailed."
The singer further detailed the exact moment he heard his neck "crack."
He added: "You're never supposed to bail, even if you slip, you're supposed to keep going. I bailed and fell on my head and I heard a crack and I was just like, oh s---.
"I felt a huge heat in my neck and I was just thinking in my head like damn, what just happened? Did my life just end?"
Being 24 at the time, Derulo recalled how his mother had dropped him off at rehearsals and was waiting for him in the car, but ended up driving him to the hospital instead.
Despite being in "excruciating pain," he didn't want to worry her and couldn't let her know how bad his pain was.
Derulo detailed: "So I'm sitting in the passenger side and every single bump that she's going on is like hell on earth, I've never felt so many bumps in my life.
"So we get to the hospital, and we have X-rays overnight, and the doctor comes and says 'You have a hangman's break,' which is the same break that happens when you get hung and this could have been way worse, and you're going to be down for seven months and kiss your tour goodbye."
Derulo went on to write one of his most successful albums while recovering from his injury.
The singer also confessed he struggled during his recovery, uncertain whether he could afford to take several months off so early in his music career.
He said: "So I had to cancel the entire tour and then I didn't know what to make of the rest of my time.
"I didn't know what the rest of my life was gonna look like. I didn't know whether I could take that kind of time off.
"You know this was pretty early in my career. This was after my second album. So, my second album had two singles on there, Don't Want To Go Home, and It Girl, which were nice hits, but they weren't the biggest songs in the world.
He continued: "I didn't know what the next vibe was going to be for me. And I was like, was this it? did I max out? And during that time, the seven months that I had, I created a routine for myself for me not to get down on myself.
"I would wake up in the morning, I would go and walk on the treadmill for 40 minutes, and then I would get home.
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The singer recently released his new single, Snake, with Nora Fatehi.
"Then when I got home, I would literally spend at least nine to 12 hours in the studio. After the nine to 12 hours in the studio, I would have my meal, and then I would go to bed, and I would start all over again every single day, the same routine every single day."
During his recovery, however, Derulo spent hours in the studio writing Talk Dirty – which became his most successful album, featuring six platinum songs.
