Pop star Sam Smith has seen plenty of highs and lows in their career, but in a new interview, they detailed a personal low that left them immobilized. On the latest episode of the Sidetracked With Annie and Nick podcast, Smith revealed that in January, they were in a horrific skiing accident and tore their anterior cruciate ligament (ACL).

“I completely ripped my ACL. I was skiing,” they said in the interview. “I was an idiot and went on a black slope on the second day … I got taken down in a blood bag. It was the worst.”

They explained that while they have since recovered, some of the effects are a “permanent thing” due to the nature of the injury. “It’s in between your bones and helps you jump and spring around, and it completely ripped,” they said. “I decided to go down the non-surgical route, but I couldn’t walk for a month on this leg and it was awful, it was the first time I’d ever not been able to move.”

But, as Smith puts it, the injury served as a call to action, allowing them to “get my s–t together” as they recovered. “I was very anxious and had been struggling with anxiety for years,” they said. “So, I started icing every morning, I started getting into my circadian rhythm. And a big part of that is light exposure to your eyes … in the evening, you stay off your phone and basically try to live by candlelight for last hour before you sleep.”

Smith’s revelation comes after a momentous year for the pop singer. In 2024, Smith celebrated the 10th anniversary of their debut album, In the Lonely Hour. In a note posted to commemorate the seminal project’s first decade, Smith thanked their fans for their support and revealed that they’d re-recorded “Stay With Me” to feature more gender-neutral identifications. “[I included] the updated lyric ‘but I still need love, baby understand,’ which felt really important to me,” they said. “It’s beautiful to know that sometimes, we can change the past.

Listen to Smith’s full interview below: