Spandau Ballet star Martin Kemp was “lucky not to lose his hand” after slicing his fingers open in a grisly chainsaw accident at home last week.
Martin Kemp was “lucky not to lose his hand” after slicing his fingers open in a grisly chainsaw accident.
The 64-year-old Spandau Ballet star was chopping wood at home last week when he picked the tool up by the blade and switched it on – nearly severing his digits – and he was left covered in blood and in need of hospital treatment.
The accident was revealed by Martin’s son Roman Kemp, who explained he didn’t find out what happened until the musician sent a picture of his bandaged fingers to the family’s Whatsapp group. During an appearance on the You About podcast with Tom Grennan, Roman said: “Oh God. It’s scary.
“Friday night I’d just finished work and looked at my phone, and dad sent a picture of his hand with all fingers heavily strapped up.
“And all he writes underneath in the family WhatsApp group is: ‘Yep … chainsaw’ … I was texting him saying’What?’ but got no reply, and then Harley my sister is like: ‘What’s happened?’ but again, no reply.
However, Martin did eventually tell his children what happened. Roman continued: “So he said: ‘Oh there was a bit of the branch that we wanted chopping down so I went and got a chainsaw. ‘
“Do you know what he said? ‘I picked it up from the blade and it didn’t have the sheath on it’. He said it switched on … he’s picked it up and it’s kicked into gear.”
Roman added his dad was “lucky not to lose his hand”, saying: “I know a mate who lost a finger through that.”
Martin went to hospital for treatment and was given a tetanus shot.
However, his son is adamant the former pop star should have hired an expert to sort out the garden instead of handling the chainsaw himself.
Roman said: “He’s 65. He’s got more than enough dough. Get a professional in, you can’t be doing that.”
Martin previously admitted he believes he only has 10 years left to live after previously being diagnosed with two brain tumours in the 1990s.
The benign growths were removed and haven’t returned, but the Spandau Ballet star – who developed epilepsy as a side effect – thinks the medical scare will have had an impact on his life expectancy.
During an appearance on the ‘FFS! My Dad Is Martin Kemp’ podcast, Martin was asked how long he expects to live and he said: “I’ll be really honest with you, 10 years.
“I don’t know how long I’ve got left but I will tell you, since I was the age of 34, when I went through all of that brain tumour scare, I spent two years of my life thinking I was going to die.”
Martin – who is dad to Roman and Harley with his pop star wife Shirlie – processed his thoughts about his mortality after his brain tumour diagnosis and he now views every day of his life as “a bonus”.
He said: “I think, after that, everything else, every day, every year, every month that I’ve lived, every experience that I’ve had has been a bonus.
“I was practically resigned to the fact that I was going to die, but I was quite happy with my lot, because I had lived the most incredible experiences.
“By the time I was 34 and I thought I was going to die, I spent two years thinking about it, I was quite happy, I thought, ‘If I go, do you know what? What a life’, and that was back then. So, every year that I live, every month that I’m alive now is like a bonus.”
However, the Gold hitmaker hopes his prediction is wrong. He added: “I would be happy if I got to 80, that gives me 18 years!”
Martin Kemp almost loses his hand in grisly chainsaw accident
