Bam Margera's various indulgences, ill-advised decisions, and general misfortune have combined
in a series of disastrous personal life events. Here's the tragic real-life story of this
former "Jackass" star.
You'd expect a man in Bam Margera's line of work to have suffered more than his share
of grim and grisly injuries. In a video interview with Maxim, he broke down some of his absolute
worst ones, ranging from a broken tailbone to nasty faceplants and torn ligaments.
Despite this impressive résumé of bodily harm, Margera says that his worst injury had
little relation to his "Jackass" work. The daredevil once received a bad head injury
while shooting an episode of MTV's "Cribs." He was set to perform a stunt that involved
driving a banana-shaped car in water, but things went wrong, and he ended up crashing
headfirst into water that was far shallower than he had thought. Margera had a nasty gash
in his head, but was ultimately able to recover.
Bam Margera's "Jackass" and "Viva La Bam" co-star Ryan Dunn died in a car crash in 2011,
and an interview with Fox 29 showed what a heavy toll the tragedy took on Margera.
"I was in Arizona when I heard. I was with some friends having the best time ever and
... at 12:30 I just started punching out the windows of the rental van and ripping out
the speakers. I don't even know why. I wasn't mad at anything or anybody. And if it was
12.30 there that means it was exactly when he crashed."
The interview was far from lip service. Dunn was very much Margera's best friend and had
been since high school. The shock of his death contributed to the skateboarding "Jackass"
star's downward spiral of addiction.
Bar brawls can be confusing affairs, and as The Philadelphia Inquirer reports, Bam Margera
was involved in an especially convoluted one in 2015. He was at the Secret Solstice Festival
in Iceland, when a local rap group called Glacier Mafia reportedly attacked him at a
bar and beat him up. Margera was punched at least three times, and though he was initially
reported to have filed charges, he apparently opted to leave the country instead of pursuing
legal action.
Though that's the gist of the story, the reasons behind the incident are rather more complex.
Some people alleged that the reason behind the fight was that members of Glacier Mafia
were angered by Margera's verbal abuse of two female members of the security personnel.
A representative of the festival alleged that Margera started harassing "two women who were
blocking him." On the other hand, Margera told an Icelandic newspaper that no harassment
of any kind took place, and that the rappers were actually in cahoots with his former publicist
Leon Hill. According to Margera, he had beef with Hill and wanted to discuss some things,
so he attempted to lure the man out by claiming he was a journalist looking for an interview.
Margera said,
"He comes up thinking it's a Rolling Stone interviewer just to find me. So him and his
boys beat the f-----g s--t out of me. It has nothing to do with anything else."
Bam Margera followed up his "Jackass" success with "Viva La Bam," which focused on Margera's
chaotic existence in his native Chester County. Along with putting his loved ones in the spotlight,
the show was custom-made for Margera to rise to further fame — and it ran for five seasons,
which was much more than the "Jackass" show managed.
While the spotlight certainly shone brighter than ever on Margera, "Viva La Bam" and its
shooting schedule had an extremely unfortunate side effect: The famous skateboarder couldn't
skateboard anymore.
"When we first started, I was skating five hours a day. Then, when you have 40 people
waking you up at 9 a.m. and showing up at your house to film you — crew, best boy,
dolly — it became, 'Bam, we can't spend two hours filming you try to land one trick
for one second of screen time. We need to get dialogue.'"
If you want to see true fear on screen while watching "Jackass," look for any scene that
features Bam Margera and snakes. As The Philadelphia Inquirer notes, the man's fear of snakes is
a very real thing, and the other "Jackass" members haven't exactly been sensitive about
it.
"I made the poor decision, like 'I hate snakes,' now they're all around me all the time."
Such pranks have left him visibly shaken and crying very real tears of terror, as opposed
to the franchise's usual "funny even when it hurts" vibe.
In a 2015 interview with Rolling Stone, Margera was able to reminisce on his castmates' snake-themed
treachery with fondness, but he also noted that he's not about to trust them with any
other fear-themed revelations in a hurry.
"I learned to not tell [Jeff] Tremaine or Knoxville or anybody what you're afraid of."
He added to this statement by sarcastically saying,
"I love spiders, oh yeah. You can dump a whole bucket on me, I wouldn't even care."
In a 2017 interview with Vice, Bam Margera revealed that he drank on a daily basis for
an estimated three years — and didn't much care which drink got the job done.
"At its worst, I would probably just wake up around 11 AM and instantly start drinking
vodka and purple Gatorade. By the end of the night, I would probably have ten pints worth
of it."
Another factor in his alcohol intake was that he hung around with rock musicians quite a
bit, which helped him fall into a routine of drinking.
However, at the time of the interview, Margera said that age has made him crave alcohol less,
partially because he has started to see the downsides of alcohol abuse.
He also said he's started using medication that helps with the cravings. Unfortunately,
he seems to have fallen off the wagon since the interview.
Bam Margera developed a reputation as a hard-drinking, hard-partying wild card over the years, but
as Vice reports, he was also dealing with a more private struggle: the eating disorder
bulimia. Margera says that since "Viva La Bam" featured his heavy-set uncle and father,
some people started to assume that it was just a matter of time before he became obese.
When he was inebriated, he was also in the habit of gorging himself on food.
"One time, I ate a frozen pizza. I was so hungry I didn't even wait to cook it, I just
ate it frozen."
Margera says that he became bulimic when he taught himself to throw up at will for a trick
called "Tequila Stuntman."
"I think the reason I started throwing up was because I learned how to do it and at
the end of the night I always felt like I drank too much, and if I'm drunk, I'll stuff
my ... face with spaghetti. I would eat it, barf it all up, and it was like, I got my
fill ... but it was all pretty much due to alcohol."
In a 2019 interview with Dr. Phil, Bam Margera revealed what sounds a lot like one of his
lowest moments: the time he seriously considered suicide.
"I had such a mental breakdown that I really thought like I could just go to the lake and
be free."
However, he was able to pull back from these thoughts thanks to his son, Phoenix.
"I was like the pain was gone and I had to beg for pain back. I was like, 'Please just
give me back my pain so I could stay, because I want to be with him.'"
He admitted that the sight of his son was so instrumental in pulling him back from the
brink that he's not sure how things would have ended otherwise.
"If I hadn't seen Phoenix, who knows where I'd be."
Interestingly, Margera said that while Phoenix kept him in the land of the living, a large
part of his breakdown came courtesy of other family members — namely, his wife Nicole
and mother April. According to him, his relationship with both had become extremely difficult due
to what he perceived as their controlling nature and failure to adhere to his "rules,"
though both noted they were trying to help him.
The latest drama in Bam Margera's life started to unfold after the revelation that he won't
play a part in the fourth "Jackass" movie, "Jackass Forever." Margera was reportedly
fired from the movie in August 2020 for failing to comply with a tight "Wellness Agreement,"
apparently crafted to keep him healthy and sober during the shooting. Margera has expressed
his displeasure about the developments, and at various points, has named his castmate
Johnny Knoxville, director Jeff Tremaine, and producer Spike Jonze as the main forces
behind the situation. He's sued Knoxville, as well as Paramount Pictures and other parties,
for wrongful termination of his contract. Margera said in a statement.
"I am pissed-off, angry, hurt, and shattered that Johnny, Jeff, Spike and the studios and
producers ripped off my creativity, content and stunts to make this movie, fired me without
justification and refuse to pay for my work. I created this franchise before any of these
guys ever got involved."
"Jackass" star Steve-O, who's had his own issues with addiction in the past, has spoken
against Margera's interpretation of the events, saying,
"Everyone bent over backwards to get you in the movie, and all you had to do was not get
loaded. You've continued to get loaded, it's that simple. We all love you every bit as
much as we all say we do, but nobody who really loves you can enable or encourage you to stay
sick."
If you or anyone you know is struggling with addiction issues, help is available. Visit
the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration website or contact SAMHSA's
National Helpline at 1-800-662-HELP (4357).