Savage Garden’s Darren Hayes Breaks Silence on Horrific Fall (Exclusive)

Darren Hayes is lucky to be alive.

It’s been a difficult few years for the 53-year-old Savage Garden musician. Less than a year after the release of his confident latest album Homosexual in October 2022, the singer-songwriter filed for divorce from his husband of 17 years, Richard Cullen. Hayes’ mother, Judy, then died in January 2025, and he learned the same week that his abusive and estranged father, Robert, also died.

At that point, Hayes couldn’t imagine things getting worse. But his life took another dark turn. “In March, I went to get out of bed one day, and I collapsed three times in a period of seven minutes,” he tells PEOPLE. “I was in so much pain. What I didn’t realize was that I’d snapped my jaw in half. I had broken 17 teeth.”

Hayes shared the news with his fans through social media in April, but he’s now opening up about the details for the first time ahead of two upcoming sold-out performances at The Troubadour in Los Angeles in March 2026.

His health first became a concern around the November 2024 release of his memoir, Unlovable, which recounted his traumatic childhood and rise to superstardom in Savage Garden. “I wasn’t feeling great, didn’t really know why. I put it down to, I guess, the emotional impact of unpacking all of that trauma in the book,” recalls Hayes.

Just a couple months later, the “Truly Madly Deeply” performer learned his mother’s life was nearing its end. “My mother had been suffering from a condition called COPD [chronic obstructive pulmonary disease], but we expected her to have 10 or 15 years left,” explains the Australian star, who got a call from his sister that Judy’s death was impending — but he still thought they had a little bit more time. “I flew home to bury my mother days later.”

Hayes, who was extremely close to Judy, “collapsed” at her wake, “which sounds very gay and very dramatic,” he quips. “I just thought, ‘This is emotional, I’m overwhelmed,’” recalls the artist, whose family asked him to see a doctor, concerned for his health. So, he did. “My cholesterol was abnormally high, and I’ve never had that in my entire life. I was put on some medication to lower that,” he says.

He then suffered the horrific fainting spell in March. His memory of the terrifying incident is fuzzy, but he recalls attempting to stand up, clutching to furniture and eventually making it to the bathroom, where he fell face-down onto porcelain tiles. 

“It was like one of those stress dreams we have where we lose teeth,” says Hayes. “I was spitting teeth out, still in denial about what had happened to me, and thought, ‘Oh, my boyfriend’s coming home from the gym in 10 minutes. I look terrible. Let me just tidy up.’”

Hayes is in a relationship with an emergency room nurse named Heriberto, who rushed home after getting a text about what happened. “When he found me, I was laying in a pool of blood,” he says. “The bathroom looked like a murder scene.”

Heriberto — who’s been “supportive” and “an angel” throughout the whole ordeal — drove Hayes to Providence Saint John’s Health Center in Santa Monica. Doctors immediately operated on his jaw, which was subsequently wired shut for three months. 

They never figured out a physical root cause of what happened. “My heart was fine. All of my arteries were fine. Because I was wearing a heart monitor at the time, there was no cardiac event or anything,” he explains. “We think it’s just stress.”

In the past, Hayes has been quite open about his experience with depression and anxiety. But he didn’t realize how intensely the series of life events was impacting him. “I didn’t deal with the grief of my marriage ending. I didn’t deal with the grief of my mother passing,” he says.

“Divorce is horrific. I don’t care what anyone has to say. It’s horrific. You feel like a failure, and then to lose that one rock in my life that had always been my mother, I think it was just a last straw for me,” adds Hayes. “It’s no wonder that my body just sort of said, ‘Time out.’”

Recovery wasn’t easy. “There was a month where I couldn’t really live without the assistance of someone helping me,” says Hayes, who was on a liquid diet for three months while his jaw was wired shut. “It was definitely a wake-up call for me about mortality and just all the little, tiny things I have to be grateful for in life.”

For a while, Hayes didn’t want to be seen by anyone — even his closest friends. He’s spent much of his life in the public eye and isn’t used to not looking his best. “You have all of your vanity taken away from you,” he says of being visibly injured. 

Eventually, his perspective shifted: “I realized that’s so shallow, and it doesn’t really matter what you look like. The people that love you just want to see you, and mostly bring you pumpkin soup.”

Today, Hayes looks good as new. His jaw is in great shape, thanks to a titanium plate, and his teeth have been replaced. Beyond healing his physical ailments, he’s also worked on his mental health since the incident.

Following his divorce but before Judy’s death, Hayes learned through a psychiatrist that his body doesn’t respond positively to most antidepressants — and the few that are meant to work for him still weren’t helping. So, he started exploring ketamine therapy under a doctor’s supervision in order to work through deep-seated trauma.

Hayes continued with ketamine therapy following his injury, and it led to a breakthrough. “I genuinely believe I met my mother in some other altered state,” he admits. “Whether it was just a psychedelic drug trip or whether it was a soul experience, I don’t know, but the message that she gave me was that I’m loved, that I was born and was sent here to spread love, and that I have to keep doing that.”

Now, the artist is using what he’s been through over the past few years as material for new music. “It has made for a really interesting album,” says Hayes, whose upcoming shows at The Troubadour will mark a year since his injuries.

“I feel more ambitious now,” he adds. “I was singing and making songs in my home studio with a wired jaw. That’s how desperate I was to make new music and to get back on the horse. And it’s why I’m doing these shows.”