19-05-2025
Australian actor Samuel Johnson breaks down as he reveals he 'couldn't believe' his girlfriend cared about him until he suffered near-fatal head injury
Samuel Johnson has paid an emotional tribute to his girlfriend Em Rooke in a new TV interview.
The 45-year-old Secret Life of Us actor was discussing the appalling injuries he suffered when he was hit by a car while crossing a country road at night in 2021 when his composure crumbled.
'When I woke up from accident I couldn't believe how much Em cared for me,' Samuel said in Monday's episode of the ABC's Australian Story.
During the program Samuel said that he did not remember the accident, which left him with injuries to the skull and ground glass in his lungs.
At one point the Molly actor said Em had 'held his head together' while the pair waited for the ambulance to arrive.
Sam also confessed he has lived with problems of self worth throughout his life and the accident altered how he saw himself.
After seeing Em by his side after he regained consciousness Sam said he thought 'wow I'm not awful'.
'She really cares for me and I just realised when I woke from the accident that I was alright' he said.
'And I needed to make sure that I needed to care for her as much as she cared for me.'
Elsewhere in the episode Em appeared and talked about how Sam had changed after the accident.
'He realised that perhaps he was a good person and was deserving of love and he put the whip away... And stopped being so hard on himself.
'He is a good person and he does deserve love.'
It comes after Samuel revealed the bizarre symptoms he experienced after the accident left him near dead.
Two years ago he discussed how he 'spoke with a Russian accent for several days' and then thought he was a 'Japanese schoolgirl'.
'Admittedly, I was a bit wonky straight after the accident. I had a Russian accent for three days. I was a Japanese girl, aged eleven, for a day and a half,' he wrote in a column for the Love Your Sister website.
And there was a pseudonym on my wrist. I just knew my name wasn't Alexis. My name was Sam, and I was a cancer fundraiser. It was a confusing time.'
'I was convinced I was in a doughnut factory, then I thought I might be in an insane asylum. It's called Post Traumatic Amnesia, or PTA.'
Samuel was driving to a relative's house on June 19th, 2021 with Em when he pulled over and crossed the road to relieve himself, because he was 'bursting' and didn't think he could wait an extra half hour.
As he went to return to his vehicle, he was hit by a car.
He later confirmed he had broken his skull, suffered bleeding on the brain, injured the ligaments in his neck, partially dislocated his jaw and endured deep bruising down the side of his body as a result of the accident.
Samuel's brush with death was another tragic blow for his family, who lost their sister Connie in September 2017.
She had suffered from bone cancer at age 11, uterine cancer at age 22 and breast cancer at age 33.
Connie died one day after being awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia at age 40.
Samuel started the Love My Sister cancer charity in 2012 alongside Connie.
Currently the actor is a volunteer postman in Tallarook, Victoria.
He announced in July he would be working for Australia Post on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.
