Jonathan Goodwin reveals he told fiancée Amanda Abbington she could leave him after accident left him paralysed

6 May 2022, 15:24 | Updated: 6 May 2022, 15:26

Jonathan Goodwin told Amanda Abbington she could leave him after becoming paralysed in life-changing stunt

By Alice Dear

Jonathan Goodwin nearly died twice after rehearsals for a stunt went terribly wrong, leaving the escapologist paralysed.

Jonathan Goodwin, 42, has revealed that he told his fiancée Amanda Abbington that she could end their relationship following a horrific accident which left him paralysed.

The Britain's Got Talent star lost a kidney, severed his spinal cord, broke both his shoulder blades, shattered both his legs and suffered third degree burns when the incident happened in October last year.

Now, in his first TV interview since the event, Jonathan revealed the selfless gesture he made to his fiancée, Sherlock actress Amanda Abbington.

Speaking on Lorraine on Friday morning, Jonathan explained: "I said 'you have a get out of jail free card', if you want to walk away, then I completely understand."

He added: "She told me not to be so stupid, and that was that."

Amanda, who was previously married to her Sherlock co-star Martin Freeman, added: "We are closer and tighter than ever, and we just have this unspoken thing. Everyday is a joy, it's just fun, we have the best time."

Jonathan and Amanda opened up about how they met and their whirlwind romance during the interview on Lorraine, with the escapologist explaining: "We'd known each other for a while, but never met. We chatted on social media and what not, and eventually we swapped numbers and arranged to have a call, and that first call was seven hours.

"Then Amanda was in Vienna working, so I flew to Vienna to meet her for the first time, after a month of chatting, and we were engaged within half an hour."

Despite the horrific events Jonathan has been through, and the prognosis that he will likely never walk again, he remains positive about his future.

"The surgeon that did my spinal operation said that it was basically the worst he'd ever seen", Jonathan explained to Lorraine: "So, the prognosis is that unless there is some sort of amazing thing that happens, then this is me from here on out."

However, he added: "I'm not down about it. Obviously, I've lost a huge amount, but I always say, you [Lorraine] as an able-bodied person, there are millions of things that you could do in your life that you will never do, and you don't wake up sad about that. You get up and you think about the things you're going to do, and it's the same for me."

Lorraine and her viewers were left astounded by Jonathan's positivity and bravery following the accident.

The incident happened while Jonathan was rehearsing an act in which he hangs upside down in a straight jacket between two cars suspended in the air.

The idea of the act was that the cars would be released just as he escaped from the straight jacket and fell onto the airbag on the ground.

However, the act went horrifically wrong when the cars were released at the wrong time, meaning Jonathan smashed in-between them as they set on fire.

As well, the crash matt was not moved which meant he fell 30ft to the ground.