Freddie Flintoff‘s life took a dramatic turn after he was involved in a sports car crash during the filming of a Top Gear episode.
Now, the former England cricketer, 47, is set to open up about the horrific crash that left him fearing that his face had “come off” after being dragged across the tarmac in a new Disney+ documentary titled Flintoff.
The sportsman sustained serious injuries at Dunsfold Park Aerodrome in Surrey when the open-top, three-wheeled Morgan Super 3 he was driving flipped over. He was airlifted to the hospital for urgent medical care, suffering from broken ribs and facial injuries.
Freddie’s wife, Rachael Wilson, hurried to be by his side and was harrowingly told to ‘expect the worst’. A source told The Sun: “The injuries were more severe as the car didn’t have a roof. It was a freak accident and somehow the car flipped over and the two men were dragged along.
Freddie and the crew member were both wearing helmets, but it was still a severe accident. Everyone on the scene was shocked by how serious it was and they were very worried about the two men strapped in.”
The couple’s second eldest son, Corey, then 16, revealed the family’s distress as his dad received urgent medical care and said Flintoff was “lucky to be alive”.
Talking to Mail Online at the time, Corey explained: “He’s OK. I’m not too sure what happened but he is lucky to be alive. It was a pretty nasty crash. It is shocking. We are all shocked but just hope he’s going to be OK.”
Freddie and former model and businesswoman Rachael have been together since 2002 and met while both at a work event. She told 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.”
After three years of dating, they sealed their union with a lavish wedding ceremony in at the Pavilion Road Hotel in Knightsbridge, London in 2005. Now, they share four children, Holly, Corey, Rocky, and Preston, and live in a plush £2.5 million Altrincham property in Manchester.
Speaking in the new Disney+ documentary, Rachael recalls the moment she was told that her husband had been in an accident. “I got a phone call – ‘Andrew’s been in an accident in Top Gear but we don’t have much information. I think they might take him to the nearest hospital but it sounds like it’s just his teeth or something. I think everything is fine,'” she says.
“I put the phone down and I didn’t think much of it to begin with but it just kind of escalated very quick.”
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