Johnny Knoxville is not a regular human being, and his latest interview has cemented that fact.
The “Jackass” series and movie star sat down with Rolling Stone, marking 25 years since his famous cover shoot with the outlet.
‘The whole world was closing in, and … I have a lot of sympathy for myself then.’
As a fifth “Jackass” movie is in the making, the new “Fear Factor: House of Fear” host discussed his greatest stunts, production hurdles, and even brain injury fallout. However, what is grabbing attention online is Knoxville’s brief emotional breakdown during the interview.
No bull
After discussing what it feels like to have an eyeball come out of its socket — with Knoxville describing his vision at the time as “fuzzy” TV lines — host Alex Morris asks the stuntman if there was one stunt he thought he would never get to do again.
At 54 years old and 16 concussions deep, the Tennessee native got choked up before answering.
“I don’t want to get emotional. I can’t. God damn. I hate when this happens,” Knoxville begins, fighting back tears.
“No, this is good. I was gonna ask when the last time you cried was,” the reporter says, trying to comfort her guest.
Then Knoxville reveals the source of his pain:
“I can’t mess around with bulls anymore.”
Confused, Morris follows up, “And that — you’re, and that makes you emotional?”
“Yeah. It’s terrible,” he replies, before getting deeper into the emotional reality of a stuntman.
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‘Steer’ing his thoughts
The host asks Knoxville why that makes him cry; was it the thought of his art form being limited by injury or the memory of catastrophic brain damage?
“No, I just want to play with them,” the actor reveals. “And I’m trying not to — trying not to indulge in those thoughts.”
Although the bull-induced injury was not the source of his emotional pain, Knoxville takes time to go into detail about the five- to six-month period during which he suffered from “catastrophic thinking” and “ruminating” thoughts.
“The whole world was closing in, and … I have a lot of sympathy for myself then, because your brain’s feeding you such terrible information. And people outside were telling me like, ‘Your brain’s playing tricks on you.’ I’m like, no, no, it’s happening. [But] nothing’s happening.”
The same brain that comes up with stunts like being shot with riot control munitions and balancing a teeter-totter around a charging bull apparently turned its back on Knoxville. He describes his recovery time as his “creative brain turned against me” while his mind “just fell off a cliff.”
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Photo by FOX via Getty Images
Please, Clapp
Other parts of the discussion briefly touched on former Sen. Joseph Lieberman (D-Conn.) attacking the “Jackass” brand in 2001, as well as Knoxville’s upbringing in a Southern Baptist Church in the 1970s.
Real name Philip John Clapp, born 1971 in Knoxville, Tennessee, the action star said that the fire-and-brimstone talk was too much for him to handle at a young age.
“You know, you’re 7, 8, just having to go and sit there and be quiet and listening about burning in hell. And I’m like, ‘Wow.'”
“It was a lot,” he adds. “I think that’s why, maybe one of the reasons I hate being told what to do so much.”
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