How harrowing Top Gear crash changed Freddie Flintoff forever: Horror injuries that he'll live with for the 'rest of his life', nightmares that left him 'crying every two minutes' and ten months out of public eye
A matter of seconds changed Freddie Flintoff's life forever when the three-wheeled car he was driving for the BBC's Top Gear flipped over in a horror smash that would leave him with life-long physical and psychological injuries.
The former England cricketing star, now 46, had turned to the world of supercars in 2018, fronting up the show alongside Paddy McGuinness and Chris Harris.
But more than three years after his first episode aired in June 2019, Flintoff was being airlifted to hospital after the show's worst-ever crash - which would ultimately lead to its retirement.
For the cricketer, it was only the beginning of a years-long process of recovery that would leave him with life-changing physical and mental scars, and that saw him stay out of public view for nine months.
Opening up on his struggles in a new series of Freddie Flintoff's Field of Dreams, the father-of-three said it had been 'so hard to cope' with crippling anxiety that left him unable to leave the house in the months following the incident in December 2022.
The former England cricketing star, now 46, had turned to the world of supercars in 2018
Flintoff quit Top Gear and reached a £9million settlement with the BBC following the crash. Pictured: Flintoff (left) with his Top Gear co-hosts Paddy McGuinness (centre) and Chris Harris (right)
The cricket legend admitted the after effects of the crash might follow him 'for the rest of my life' and said he believes he 'genuinely shouldn't be here' after he flipped a three-wheeled car at Dunsfold Park Aerodrome while filming for Top Gear.
No photographs of the crash have ever been published, and with Flintoff remaining at home for almost a year after the incident, it was unknown how seriously the presenter had been injured.
His wife Rachel reportedly begged him to stay at home and recover, and he himself has now revealed he was left to afraid to leave the house which he shares with her and their three children, Rocky, Holly and Corey.
But after Flintoff returned to the public eye as he went back to his first passion - cricket - fans were left heartbroken for the star as the extent of his facial injuries were revealed.
Just less than two weeks after the accident, a new clip shows how Flintoff was left 'crying every two minutes' as severe flashbacks from the near-fatal incident haunted his waking and sleeping moments.
He said at the time: 'Week-and-a-half after my accident. Genuinely, should not be here with what happened.
'It's going to be a long road back and I've only just started and I am struggling already and I need help. I really am.'
He added: 'I'm not the best at asking for it. I need to stop crying every two minutes. I am looking forward to seeing the lads and being around them. I really am.'
Former England captain Freddie Flintoff was seen for the first time nine months after the crash in September 2023
Flintoff, who was crippled with anxiety, nightmares and flashbacks in the aftermath of the crash, has credited cricket with helping him get back to the world again
In the new programme, filmed seven months after the accident, it is revealed that after multiple surgeries, Flintoff was barely leaving the house, other than to attend hospital appointments.
He tells the show: 'I thought I could just shake it off. I wanted to shake it off and say 'I'm alright' but it's not been a case of that. It's been a lot harder than I thought. As much as I wanted to go out and do things, I've just not been able to.'
The show, which sees Flintoff coach a team of young cricketers, the star tells his friend, former Lancashire teammate Kyle Hogg, that the thought of taking the youngsters on the cricket trip has kept him going during the tough times.
He tells him: 'I think about it all the time and I think about going and how good it would be.
'I rewind then, thinking: 'Well am I...?' I don't leave the house hardly. Got to get on a plane, going to be away for two and a half weeks.
'But some of them lads have had a tough life You've got to try and put into perspective. And I feel guilty I can't do that.
'I don't want to sit here and feel sorry for myself and I don't want sympathy. But it's going from being in here for seven months, really, and then going to India for two-and-a-half weeks.
'Everywhere I go at the minute, I've got a full face-mask and glasses on. I can't do that.'
Freddie Flintoff moved viewers to tears when revealing he was suffering 'nightmares and flashbacks' after his near-fatal Top Gear crash
Freddie Flintoff pictured in Calcutta during his programme Freddie Flintoff's Field of Dreams
Flintoff had been test driving a three-wheel Morgan Spencer 3 when it flipped over on the Top Gear race track
Speaking about how to go on with life after the accident, Freddie admits: 'As much as I want to go out and do things... I've just not been able to.'
He added: 'I struggle with anxiety. I have nightmares and flashbacks, it's been so hard to cope.'
Flintoff reportedly reached a £9 million settlement with the BBC last year over the accident, paid for by the corporation's commercial arm. The broadcaster had apologised to him in March 2023 about his injuries.
He was first seen after the crash in September 2023 at cricket ground Sophia Gardens in Cardiff.
He reportedly helped coach the England under-19s during his recovery with the support and encouragement of England managing director Rob Key.
Flintoff was then seen regularly at cricket grounds across the country as his injuries, which left him in hospital for five weeks, healed.
It is not the first time the cricketing legend has had a brush with death: just months after he joined Top Gear, he had a 125mph smash in 2019. Miraculously, he escaped without injuries.
He has previously also struggled with mental health battles with depression, and has been open about his experiences with bulimia, an eating disorder.
The struggles continued throughout his career and long into retirement, with Flintoff admitting he had made himself sick after eating even in the 12 months leading up to the filming of a documentary about it: Living With Bulimia.
But it is the teenage cricket team he created from his hometown of Preston who give him the motivation to get out into the world again as he continues his recovery from the crash.
In emotional scenes set to air on the show, one of the boys tells him: 'I missed you'.
But when one of the young cricketers on the tour with him asks if he is 100 percent now, he replies: 'Not really. I don't know if I will again to be honest. I am better than I was.'
He adds: 'I don't know what completely better is. I am what I am now. I'm different to what I was. It's something I will probably have to deal with for the rest of my life. So…better? No, different.'
Once the team is in Kolkata in India, Freddie says he is 'reaching out to cricket to help me'.
He says: 'Cricket is like a religion in India. It's just everywhere you go. And Kolkata is different to other places I've been to.
'To me, Kolkata is authentic India and the more time I spent there, the more I grew an affinity and a connection to the place because we all learnt so much and it's had such an impact on all of our lives.'
