We inherited two very large camelias when we bought our house, because they haven't been pruned regularly they were quite large but hollow/twiggy inside so there was a limit to how far you could cut back.
After some investigation I cut one back to around 3 ft two years ago, mulched composted and let it be, it grew back with a vengeance last year and flowered beautifully this year, and now we're keeping on top of the pruning it's not taking over the garden/washing line. The garden is about 100ft and quite wide so needs some decent shrubbery for structure and so it doesn't look too bare.
So having had that success we decided to do the other this year, best to do it after the flowers have dropped. I left DH to it while I put ds to bed and he's cut it down to about 6 inches from the ground! It's nothing but a small stump. There was no mal intent on his part just a misunderstanding (I did the last one).
If get some mulch/compost around it will it come back or is it the end of the road?!