On Wednesday, Kevin Hart continued his unhurried transition back into the public eye by appearing on The Ellen DeGeneres Showjust over 100 days after a brutal car accident left him with a badly injured back.
To greet her fellow comedian, DeGeneres hugged Hart prior to wondering if such a friendly gesture might actually hurt like hell.
"It's funny, I was hugging you just because I love you and always hug you the same way, and then I was like, 'oh, does that hurt?'" the host said.
Hart joked that she "tried to hurt me," before providing a new update that stated that he's "about 65 to 75 percent back" to being, well, 100 percent. "My workouts are not full – I'm not lifting crazy weights," Hart said of his current limitations. "[B]ut I'm back to weighted workouts, agility, mobility, core workouts."
Not long after midnight on September 1, Hart (as well as a pair of friends) went unintentionally off-road in the Jumanji star's 1970 Plymouth Barracuda as it rolled down an embankment. The resulting wreck led to him suffering "major back injuries." He spent the next 10 days in the hospital.
It took nearly two months for Hart to update fans of his condition, which he did by posting videos from the hospital he was at, in addition to sharing footage that showed him in physical therapy sessions.
"You don't realize that your back is connected to everything," Hart told DeGeneres, according to USA TODAY. "Coming out of back surgery, everything changed. You're kind of helpless. So that's where you get to see what really matters, who really matters. Life kind of hits you in a completely different way."
He further expressed the new appreciation he has for mobility by stating that his "biggest triumph" was something people do everyday without even thinking about it.
"The biggest triumph one day was when I put my socks on," he said. "(...) When I put my socks on, it was the biggest thing in the world. Running around the house, 'I got my socks on! You ain't have to do it, I did it myself!' The biggest thing for me."
His changed mindset also includes appreciation for those who were by his side during his recovery, and also the fact that his freakishly busy schedule was actually clear so that he could spend 3+ months with his family.
"You go, 'Wow. This is love. This is what real love in life is,'" Hart said. "The things that you think matter? You realize don't. It's not about your level of success, it's not about how much money you have. It's about those individuals and who you really mean the most to and who means the most to you. I got a completely different (outlook) on life: A much better one."
