Inside Freddie Flintoff's inner circle as he opens up on his Top Gear crash trauma: Doting wife Rachael has 'seen the worst of him' but stood by while four children - including cricket star son Rocky - gave him a new outlook
- Flintoff has battled back from horrific injuries and anxiety after a 130mph crash
- His wife of 19 years, Rachael, has stood by him through alcoholism and misery
- Two of his sons play for Lancashire while his daughter gave him a new outlook
Freddie Flintoff is once again gracing our TV screens, having come back batting from a 130mph crash which still leaves him with 'nightmares and flashbacks'.
The 46-year-old was 'lucky to be left alive' when the open-topped sports car he was driving flipped while he was filming an episode of Top Gear in December 2022.
Key to Flintoff's recovery and home life have been his wife of 19 years, Rachael, and his four children, Holly, Corey, Rocky, and Preston. This isn't the first trial they've been through, having borne the brunt of his alcoholic past.
A new series of Freddie Flintoff's Field of Dreams launched on Tuesday, with the former England cricket star taking his young Lancastrian charges on a tour of India.
Mail Sport explores the family unit who have helped make his comeback possible, the inner circle who back him through thick, thin, and everything in between.
Freddie Flintoff is back, but he couldn't have done it without his vital support network (pictured with wife Rachael Wools on their wedding day in 2005)
The cricket legend poses with Rachael and three of his kids (Holly, Corey, and Rocky) in 2015
Freddie and Rachael had their fourth child, Preston, in 2019 and kept him a secret for months
Flintoff has been married to Rachael Wools, 43, since March 2005.
Rachael is a former model and ran her own events company, Strawberry Promotions, from the age of 19 until 2006.
In fact, it's because of Strawberry Promotions that the two lovers met. It was at Edgbaston Cricket Ground in 2002 that they met while she was getting the name of her business out there. She was also signed with the Storm Models agency, appearing in various magazines.
Rachael admitted to The Daily Mail in 2007: 'He really wasn't my type physically, because I always go for dark men, but I thought he was the funniest guy I had ever met.
'He got hold of my mobile number and texted me a couple of times, and we met up for a drink, and I was pretty much bowled over by his charm.'
Three years later and they were tying the knot at the glitzy Pavilion Road Hotel in Knightsbridge, London, although they were unable to enjoy a honeymoon together due to the cricketer's sporting commitments.
It hasn't always been plain sailing, however. In his 2015 book Second Innings, serialised by the Mail on Sunday, Flintoff admitted that 'she used to get the worst of him' due to his boozing and mental struggles.
'I couldn't have done all the things I've done without her. She has helped me get over so many problems,' he wrote.
'Looking back, I feel for the missus. She used to get the worst of me. She didn't come out and celebrate when we won — that was with the lads — and I'd rock in at five in the morning, stinking and falling over. When we lost she'd see me drowning my sorrows in the corner. And then your career is all over.
Pictured in India for his BBC documentary, Freddie Flintoff's Field Of Dreams On Tour, on which he revealed he was suffering 'nightmares and flashbacks' after his near-fatal Top Gear crash
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)
'I don't think you realise until you've retired just how selfish you were. Not about batting or anything like that, I mean actually selfish as a person.'
Prone to all-night drinking bouts, Flintoff started hitting the bottle at 17, when he became a 'competitive drinker' after downing 10 pints of Guinness.
It was only after making a documentary about depression in sport in 2012 that he quit. 'It's not so much the drinking, it's actually the reasons why you are drinking,' he explained.
'When you are drinking because you are trying to get away from something I think that is when you have got to look at everything.
'One of the reasons I probably stopped drinking is that I am prone to suffer from depression. Drinking doesn't help one bit. I don't touch it now.'
In his 2021 memoir The Book Of Fred he wrote: 'I was boozing to try to change the way I felt and that’s when it became a problem. If I latched on, I would get into drinking, and not just for one session. It would go on for weeks and that couldn’t continue.'
Alongside that, Flintoff's suffering with bulimia after being branded a 'fat cricketer' meant that he was constantly 'hangry' - angry and hungry - and that took its toll on the family. His weight had ballooned to 19 stone and vicious online comments were hard to block out.
Some of his kids are old enough to remember those days.
Freddie was known for his boozy escapades during his career and suffered from Bulimia too
He is grateful to Rachael for sticking by him even when she 'used to get the worst' of him
His family have been an ever-present and he thinks fatherhood made him a better cricketer
In 2004 they had their daughter, Holly, 19, and they have since had Corey, 18, Rocky, 16, and Preston, four.
Rocky and Corey are chips off the old block.
In April Rocky shot his first century for Lancashire, having debuted for one of cricket's most historic counties just two days after turning 16. Corey is also part of the Lancashire set-up and has played alongside his brother.
Flintoff believes that becoming a father made him a better sportsperson.
He won the 2005 Ashes the year after his daughter, Holly, was born.
'My career at the time, I started doing really well,' he told the First Time Dads podcast. 'Everyone said that couldn't happen, but it put everything into perspective. I actually got better.'
He added: 'You start thinking, "You know what? I'm dressed in whites, we're chucking a ball around and trying to hit it." Although it WAS the most important thing, it now isn't. It frees you up, especially with batting. I started scoring a lot of runs because I wasn't bothered about getting out.'
As for Preston, the youngest, well, his existence was actually kept a secret from the public for a few months after his birth.
Rocky Flintoff smashed his first century for Lancashire second XI against Warwickshire
Rocky (bottom centre) and his older brother Corey (left) are having the early stages of their careers carefully managed by their father
Rocky, (pictured in 2013 with his dad Andrew), appears to have been taught well by the England great
Named after Flintoff's home city, Preston's presence as a tot was announced on talkSPORT.
'Little Preston was born at Christmas – it is the first time I’ve actually spoken about it. But yeah, we have got another baby and it has been nice spending time with him,' Flintoff said.
In 2016 Flintoff had insisted they were done having kids. 'We thought about it. I originally wanted five but you have three and that felt like enough. I couldn’t go back to the nappy stage now,' he said. Seemingly that perspective changed.
This close-knit group has been vital to Flintoff's recovery. The cricket legend admitted on the latest Field of Dreams episode that it has been 'so hard to cope' with crippling anxiety that left him unable to leave the house in the months following his crash.
He admitted that hauntings of the crash could 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 in Surrey.
Viewers were left 'crying their eyes out' after he candidly opened up on the mental and physical torture he has endured.
Speaking about how to go on with life after the accident, he says: '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.
England coach Freddie Flintoff during a nets session at Headingley, Leeds on May 21
The former England cricketer, 46, has spoken for the first time about the devasting impact the car accident has had on his life, in a new TV series for the BBC
Freddie Flintoff on a motorised trike while filming a series of Top Gear
'But I'm thinking if I don't do summat, I'm never going to do owt. I've got to get on with it.'
In the first episode of the new four-part series, which was two years in the making as a result of the accident, there is also footage of Flintoff talking less than two weeks after the crash.
He tells the camera: '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.'
Flintoff tells the programme: 'Got to look on the positive: I'm still here. I've got another chance and I've got a go at it. I am seeing that as how it is - a second go.'
When one of the young cricketers on the tour with him asks him if he is 100 per cent 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.'
Inside Freddie Flintoff's inner circle supporting the former cricketer as he reveals Top Gear crash left him suffering from nightmares
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.
Speaking to journalists, Flintoff believes the trip to India has revived his spirits. 'I suppose I found a confidence out there again, which had been lacking a little bit in recent times.'
'I always wanted to get back in it. I probably shouldn't say it in this room, but I fell into a TV trap and doing TV, this, that and the other.
'Now, moving forward, obviously I would love to do more coaching, I don't know in what entity or where. I am quite open-minded about it all and then a little bit of TV as well, carry on with this.'
Freddie Flintoff's Field of Dreams On Tour aired on BBC1 at 9pm on Tuesday and is available on iPlayer.
