‘Superman’ Star Christopher Reeve Told His Wife “Maybe We Should Let Me Go” After Accident Left Him Paralyzed

Superman star Christopher Reeve had a new outlook on life after he became paralyzed from the neck down. In the upcoming documentary about his life, Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story, he says he “needed to break” his neck in order to form a personal connection with his children.

The documentary, which follows the late actor’s life and career, premiered at Sundance Film Festival where it earned a standing ovation, according to The Guardian. The film uses Reeve’s narration from the audiobook versions of his memoirs, which were recorded before he died of a heart attack in 2004.

But nine years before that, in 1995, Reeve suffered the unimaginable. After falling off a horse in an equestrian competition, he was left paralyzed from the neck down.

Reeve — who was “unable to avoid thinking the darkest thoughts” when he was in the hospital — recalls telling his wife, “Maybe we should let me go,” to which she replied, “You’re still you and I love you.”

After leaving the hospital, the actor gained a new perspective on parenting. While his life was once consumed with competitive activities, the accident changed everything.

“Our love language was activity before,” his daughter Alexandra told Variety. “Suddenly, you’re spending time just hanging out in Dad’s office looking each other in the eye and talking for two hours.”

In the documentary, Reeve says, “I needed to break my neck to learn some of this stuff.”

The late star also looks back on working with Gene Hackman and Marlon Brando in 1978’s Superman. While he was excited to perform alongside the iconic actors, he says Brando was difficult, revealing he “took the $2 million and ran” while “phoning it in.” However, for Reeve, “Superman needed to be art,” according to his daughter.

Reeve’s youngest son, Will, opened up to Deadline about the family’s decision to “reintroduce” their “heroic” father to the world 20 years after his death.

“Everything came together in a way that we knew as a family we could be open and honest and vulnerable and hand everything over to them and see what they came back with,” he said. “And that trust has been rewarded in a way that we’re just so thrilled about and can’t wait for the world to experience as well.”