Kim Wilde reveals ‘terrifying’ secret health struggle – saying it was ‘unbearable pain’ and she thought career was OVER

KIM Wilde has revealed her ‘terrifying’ secret health struggle, saying she suffered ‘awful, unbearable pain’ and thought her career was OVER.

80s pop legend Kim, 64, has continued to tour and perform into her senior age.

However, a shock injury 18 months ago left her in unbearable pain and uncertain about her future.

Speaking on Kaye Adams' How To Be 60 podcast, she said last month: “It was terrifying. It was completely debilitating, terribly painful - nerve pain going right down my legs.

"Just unbearable pain that I never seemed to be able to get out of. It was awful.

“I did feel very vulnerable. I just thought the life as I loved it was disappearing. The things that I loved to do most - walking my doggies - can’t do that.

"Going out on tour and running across the stage - can’t do that.”

Slipped discs occur when a soft cushion of tissue bulges out between the bones in the spine, often pressing on nerves and causing intense pain.

While sometimes triggered by an injury, they can also occur without an obvious cause.

Reflecting on the impact of the condition, Kim admitted: “Pretty much everything I loved to do, just in one day disappeared, and I didn’t know if I would recover.

“It was very scary, and I promised myself if I got myself better, I’d go hell for leather for everything. I’d be walking, I’d be swimming, I’d be getting a personal trainer. I’ve done all those things, and I feel fantastic.

“I’m probably fitter now at 64 than 54. Only four months after my back went and I thought my world had ended, I found myself on a pair of water skis. It’s given me this fantastic momentum, and during that time I’ve made the new album.”

Back in December, Kim told how she was lured back into performing - by singing Abba songs at a village fete.

The talented hitmaker put her stellar career on the backburner in the late 1990s to pursue gardening.

But she will return with a new album early this year - and credits a fete in her Hertfordshire village for the rethink.

She said on Kate Thornton's White Wine Question Time podcast: “They asked me to sing Abba but when I got there they asked if I’d do Kids in America.

“I was quite anti the whole idea of it but when I sang it the whole place went crazy.

"So the village takes credit for getting me back on stage, which I rather love.”

Kim, daughter of 1950s rocker Marty Wilde, holds the record as the most-charted British female solo act of the 1980s, with 17 UK top 40 hit singles.

She first hit the charts in 1981 with Kids In America, which peaked at No2.

She followed that up with No4 Chequered Love later that year.

In 1987, she turned to comedy - releasing a Christmas charity single for Comic Relief with Mel Smith.

The cheeky duo reached number three with Rockin' Around The Christmas Tree.

She continued to have hits in the 90s as well as touring and appearing in the West End show Tommy.

In November 2024, she released her comeback single Midnight Train.

As well as music, Kim enjoyed gardening success, winning a Gold award for her courtyard garden at the Royal Horticultural Society's Chelsea Flower Show in 2005.

She is also an author and has published two books on gardening - Gardening with Children (2005) and The First Time Gardener (2006).

But now she has got the enthusiasm for music once again, and is planning to make the most of it.