Steve-O started filming his stunts to make an ex-girlfriend "worried" he might die.
Steve-O started filming stunts to make an ex-girlfriend 'worried' he might die (c) Zamar Velez/GQ
The 'Jackass' star was keen for his former flame to be concerned about him if she saw him performing outlandish exploits, and while they didn't get back together, he did still attract an audience.
He said: "I was so heartbroken and I wanted her to be worried about me.
"The stunts were initially an exercise in trying to make that girl worried that I was going to die.
"Before, [when] I was making skateboard videos, nobody cared. Now, I'm dangling off 12th-floor balcony railings by my bare hands. When I showed people the footage, I could see that they gave a s***.
"I could see that it had an impact upon them. I felt like, 'Dude, this is what I'm going to do. I'm going to be a f****** crazy a****** videotaping crazy a****** s*** with the video camera and that is going to be my career. I'm going to be a crazy, famous stuntman.' "
Steve-O - who has been without drink or drugs for nearly 14 years after his co-star Johnny Knoxville and others had him involuntarily committed to a psychiatric ward in March 2008 - always thought of his stunts as his legacy.
Speaking in a new GQ HYPE interview, the star - who was born Stephen Glover - added: "I recognise three ways that people deal with their fear of death.
"One is religion. The second is procreation. And I fall into the third bucket, which is, like, the cavemen knew they were going to die, [so] they're scrawling their stick figures on the wall.
"They're leaving something behind. And that was my religion. It was the video cameras.
"I'm going to be dead, but this video camera - it was my message in a bottle."
Read the full story 'Steve-O Is Still Taking It In the Nuts' by Sam Schube in GQ's February issue and on GQ.com.
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