PLEASE IF YOU ARE PLANNING TO HAVE THIS NEWS ON YOUR SITE, ASK FIRST

TORMENTED pop star Brian Harvey has spoken for the first time about the freak accident that saw him run over by his own car and revealed he may NEVER walk again.

In an exclusive interview with the News of the World, the stricken singer insisted he had not been trying to kill himself when he was crushed under the wheels of his Mercedes.

"It wasn't a suicide attempt," said Brian. "I've been suffering from depression and I had taken two overdoses in the weeks before the accident. But that's not what this was."

He added: "I'm hoping I will be able to walk again, but I know it will take intense physio."

Brian looks like a ghost of his former self—ashen-faced and hollow-eyed, with the huge metal brace that holds his shattered pelvis together sticking out of his battered body like a pair of handlebars.

He gasped for breath as he recalled the accident 10 weeks ago.

"I drove down the wrong cul-de-sac and was turning round when I started to feel sick.

"I undid my seatbelt and opened the door. Then I leant out and tried to stamp on the brake, but I missed and hit the accelerator. The car was still in reverse and it went out of control.

"The force of the impact flung me out and I was caught on the door then dragged underneath."

Luckily his pal, who had been giving him directions from his front door, heard the noise.

Brian said: "The next thing I knew my mate was by my side. He told me later that he'd pulled me out—and my heel was round the back of my neck."

The 30-year-old singer was rushed to nearby Whipps Cross Hospital in east London before being moved to St George's Hospital in Tooting.

Brian was comatose for two weeks and had two major five-hour operations as doctors battled to save him.

His parents were told to prepare for the worst, but Brian defied the odds, woke up and soon started to breathe by himself.

However Brian knows he still has a long way to go.

"My pelvis is broken in eight places, my lungs were crushed and my stomach was up where my lungs should be," said Brian, who also revealed he had to fight off a dose of MRSA.

Brian was released from hospital three weeks ago and is now being cared for by his model girlfriend Emma B at her home in Hastings.

Before the accident, he was in the grip of severe depression. He tried to kill himself twice by knocking back sleeping tablets.

He admitted: "I didn't want to be here. I'd had enough."

Brian traces his problems back to 1997 when he was sacked from East 17 for taking Ecstasy tablets. He said: "I swear there's some kind of syndrome you get after being in a boyband."

Since then he was attacked by machete-wielding thugs outside a club in 2001, declared bankrupt the following year and wound up in a mental unit twice.

However, the love of girlfriend Emma B has given Brian the will to live. He said: "That girl is unbelievable. She visited me every day in hospital. I couldn't ask for anyone better."

Brian believes his escape from death has been a wake-up call and he is determined to turn his life around.

"There are so many things I still want to do with my life," he said. "I'm not giving up now."

British singer BRIAN HARVEY is determined to perform on stage again by the end of the year (05) - despite sustaining horrific injuries in a car accident in May (05).

The former EAST 17 star was released from hospital last month (JUL05), and he is looking forward to reviving his singing career after receiving extensive treatment for a broken leg, a shattered pelvis, severe abdominal injuries and fluid-filled lungs sustained when he fell under the wheels of his own car.

He insists, "I'll be back on stage by the end of the year.

"I'm not gonna let this stop me doing what I love - singing."

Troubled reality TV star Brian Harvey has provided an astonishing explanation for the bizarre and terrifying accident in which he was run over by his own Mercedes... claiming it was caused by a meal of three giant baked potatoes smothered in tuna mayonnaise and cheese.

Harvey, speaking for the first time about the incident that nearly cost him his life, says he fell under the car as he leant out of the driver's door to be sick because he had eaten so much - and the Mercedes rolled over him.

He fractured his pelvis in seven places, broke his ribs and punctured his lungs. He lay unconscious for three weeks and had to endure 12 hours of surgery as doctors battled to rebuild his shattered frame.

Harvey, 30, is now in a wheelchair with an external steel frame still supporting his fragile pelvis. Internally he is held together by a selection of clamps, bars and pins. Miraculously, doctors say he will probably make a full recovery.

Now, as he is nursed by his model girlfriend Emma B, Harvey - lead singer in successful Nineties boy band East 17 - says the accident has given him a new view on life.

He told The Mail on Sunday: "You have to laugh, really. I'm not religious but there is definitely someone up there trying to teach me a lesson."

And he hopes his brush with death will mark a turning point in his life. From 1992 to 1997, East 17 had 16 Top 30 hits, including the 1994 Christmas No1 Stay Another Day. He was engaged to glamorous EastEnders star Danniella Westbrook. He had a London penthouse and millions of fans. But now his star has dimmed and his pop fortune disappeared.

Harvey married and divorced dancer Natasha Goldman and fought a bitter custody battle over their daughter Teigan. He was prosecuted and cleared for supplying cocaine, went bankrupt and suffered a brutal machete attack outside a nightclub.

I'm a Celebrity...

Last year his attempt to revive his career on I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here faltered after his grandmother died and he quit. There were two suicide attempts and Emma B announced she was leaving him.

Harvey said: "A lot of people were going on about suicide attempts but this wasn't one. You couldn't have done it if you had tried."

Harvey had been at home in Walthamstow, East London, when he overindulged on his night-time snack.

He said: "I was starving so I baked three jacket potatoes and stuffed them down. They were big. I put cheese on, then tuna mayonnaise and I ate the lot."

He then attempted to drive to a friend's house but got lost in a cul-de-sac. "There wasn't room to turn round, so I came to a stop and put the car in reverse. But then I felt sick so I took off my seatbelt, opened the door and went to be sick. Instead of keeping my foot on the brake, it slipped on to the accelerator."

The Mercedes careered into another car and the jolt sent Harvey out of the door and on to the road.

"I got caught up between my driver's door and a wall. The car was still going backwards and I was forced underneath."

Five-hour operation

The friend Harvey was going to visit heard his screams and rushed to the scene to pull the singer clear. Harvey said: "The car went over my stomach and pushed it up into my lungs, both lungs completely deflated, my diaphragm was ripped and my pelvis was smashed in seven places.

"I don't remember the ambulance or hospital. I just remember waking up three weeks later in intensive care with tubes coming out of me."

Harvey underwent a five-hour operation at Whipps Cross Hospital in East London to repair his diaphragm, reinflate his lungs and realign his stomach. Within 24 hours he was transferred to St George's Hospital in South London for a seven-hour operation by trauma specialist Martin Bircher, who was orthopaedic surgeon to the Queen Mother.

He has had several messages of support from his I'm A Celebrity colleagues, including Joe Pasquale, Fran Cosgrave and Antonio Fargas (Huggy Bear).

But Harvey reserves his highest praise for Emma B, 25, who has put her career on hold to nurse him at her home in Hastings, East Sussex. He said: "She's been brilliant. Emma and I are going to get married now. Your priorities change and you suddenly realise what's important after something like this happens."

But one thing he definitely won't be doing is eating baked potatoes. He said: "I haven't had a jacket potato since. I could never eat them again."