In a new trailer for his Disney+ doc, Flintoff, Freddie has opened up about the near-fatal Top Gear crash that left him with facial wounds and several broken bones
Freddie Flintoff has shared “vivid” memories of his horror Top Gear crash in the trailer for his new Disney+ doc.
The 47-year-old cricket star was left with several broken ribs and facial injuries after the life-altering accident in December 2022, which took place at Dunsfold Park Aerodrome in Surrey. He was driving at 130mph in an open-top Morgan Super 3 car when it flipped over and crashed.
Unfortunately, he wasn’t wearing a helmet when the three-wheeled vehicle crashed, meaning his face made direct contact with the ground. After 45 minutes, the presenter was airlifted to hospital where he was treated for his injuries.
In a trailer for his new 90-minute documentary film for Disney+, streaming April 25, Flintoff has opened up about the horror smash. “I remember everything about it,” he said at the start of teaser clip. “It’s so vivid.”
He proceeded to show his facial scars on camera. “This is what I’m left with,” he said, adding: “I wouldn’t say I’m embracing them but I’m not trying to hide my scars.”
“I’ve lived under the radar for seven months, one of the real frustrations was the speculation, that’s why I’m doing this now. What actually happened?”
Photos of the devastating crash was also shown in the trailer, where medical staff can be seen rushing to help Freddie on the side of the track.
Recalling his rise to fame as an England cricketer, he said: “I was a shy kid growing up, they start calling me Fred and then I found this alter-ego.”
Discussing his struggles in the public eye, he said: “It was me against me. Everyone wants more. ‘You’re just a commodity’.”
“It’s almost like a reset”, he said of the impact of the crash on his life, admitting he’s trying to re-discover his identity. “I’m trying to find out what I am now. I’ve always seemed to be able to flick a switch. I’ve got to find that switch again.”
At the time, the presenter’s son, Corey, said Freddie was “lucky to be alive”. Freddie previously revealed he was “crying every two minutes” for weeks after the accident and suffering flashbacks and nightmares about it.
Former Top Gear presenter Chris Harris admitted he’d expressed concerns about the stunt before Freddie got in the car. He said: “He wasn’t wearing a crash helmet. And if you do that, even at 25, 30 miles an hour, the injuries that you sustain are profound.”
Harris said the car Freddie was driving was difficult to drive. He said of the car: “It’s a very, difficult car. You have to be aware of its limitations. And I think that really was difficult, and you need experience.
“There were two people that had driven a Morgan three-wheeler before present that day – me and someone else, a pro driver.
“And we were sitting inside at that time. No one had asked us anything about the car. They’d just gone on and shot it without us.”
Freddie made his first public appearance after the crash back in September 2023. He watched England’s cricket team play against New Zealand at Cardiff’s Sophia Gardens.
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Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
