Freddie Flintoff has revealed the extent of the horrific injuries he suffered in a high-speed Top Gear crash and admitted he doubts he will ever be the same in a new clip.
The 46-year-old was driving a three-wheeled car on the Dunsfold Park Aerodrome test track in Surrey when it rolled over and slid along the track, leaving him with serious facial injuries and broken ribs.
In a selfie taken just two weeks after the incident in December 2022, the former cricketer can be seen with deep wounds on his face and bandages covering part of his nose.
In a clip recorded while lying in bed during his recovery, the father of three tells the camera that he needs to stop “crying every two minutes.”
The cricket superstar admits he is “struggling” to come to terms with the tough road to recovery he faces and believes he “really shouldn’t be here” after being airlifted to hospital.
New photos reveal the injuries Freddie Flintoff suffered in an accident while filming Top Gear in December 2022
The Top Gear star can be seen lying on a bed with deep wounds to his face and a bandage covering part of his nose.
Photos and video of his recovery were shown in a new BBC programme tonight, 20 months after the crash in a £43,000 Morgan Super 3 which nearly cost him his life.
Flintoff, who reportedly reached a £9m settlement with the BBC over the crash that was paid for by the broadcaster’s commercial division, quit Top Gear after the accident and the channel has since been put on hiatus.
The cricketer-turned-presenter has rarely been seen in public since the incident, after his devoted wife Rachael, 42, reportedly “begged” him not to work and take time off to recover.
However, the broadcaster, which apologised to him in March 2023 for his injuries, brought him back for the new series of Freddie Flintoff’s Field of Dreams, which sees him lead a group of youngsters on a cricket tour to India.
In the programme, Flintoff emotionally reveals the fallout from the incident that will follow him “for the rest of my life” and admits he has to deal with nightmares and flashbacks of the fateful day.
He tells the camera: “It’s been a week and a half since my accident. I honestly shouldn’t be here with what happened.”
“It’s going to be a long road back and I’m just getting started and I’m already struggling and I need help. I really need it.”
He added: “I’m not very good at asking. I need to stop crying every two minutes. I’m really looking forward to seeing the lads and being with them. I really am.”
Flintoff told the programme: “I have to look on the bright side: I’m still here. I’ve got another chance and I’m going to try. I look at it as such – a second chance.”
When asked by one of the young cricketers accompanying him on tour if he is now 100 per cent fit, he replies: “Not really. I don’t know if I will be again, to be honest. I’m better than I was before.”
She adds: “I don’t know what it means to be completely better. I am what I am now. I am different than I was. It’s something I’ll probably have to deal with for the rest of my life. So… better? No, different.”
The former cricketer has said he suffered nightmares and flashbacks to the accident.
Flintoff quit Top Gear and settled with the BBC for £9m following the accident. Pictured: Flintoff (left) with his Top Gear co-presenters Paddy McGuinness (centre) and Chris Harris (right).
Flintoff was testing a three-wheeled Morgan Spencer 3 when it rolled over on the Top Gear race track.
Since the incident, Flintoff has been seen in public on a few occasions, with most of his appearances being at cricket matches. Pictured: Flintoff at Headingly in Leeds for tonight’s men’s Hundred match between Northern Superchargers, of whom he is head coach, and London Spirit.
England manager Freddie Flintoff during a training session at Headingley, Leeds, on May 21
During the new series, in which he takes a group of youngsters on a cricket tour of India, he admits that while he’s away he might need to “take a break” to “go cry in my room”.
In one part of the programme, filmed seven months after the accident, it is revealed that Flintoff has undergone several operations, but the programme explains that apart from hospital appointments, he has rarely left the house.
Speaking to the show, she said: “I thought I could just put it behind me. I wanted to put it behind me and say ‘I’m fine’ but it hasn’t been that way. It’s been a lot harder than I thought. As much as I wanted to go out and do things, I just haven’t been able to do it.”
In the programme, the star tells his friend, former Lancashire teammate Kyle Hogg, how the idea of taking youngsters on the cricket journey has kept him going during tough times.
He says: ‘I think about it all the time and I think about going and how great it would be.
“So I turn around and think, ‘Well?’ I barely leave the house. I have to get on a plane, I’m going to be gone for two and a half weeks.
“But some of these kids have had a tough life. You have to try to put things into perspective. And I feel guilty for not being able to do that.”
“I don’t want to sit here and feel sorry for myself and I don’t want to be pitied. But this is about being here for seven months, actually, to going to India for two and a half weeks.
‘Everywhere I go, I wear a full face mask and goggles. I can’t do that.’
Speaking about moving on with his life after the accident, Freddie admits: ‘As much as I want to go out and do things… I just haven’t been able to.
‘I’m not sure I’ll ever feel better again, to be honest. I’m better than I was before.
“I don’t know what it means to be completely better. I am what I am now, I am different than I was, that’s something I’ll have to deal with for the rest of my life. Better, no, different.”
Freddie Flintoff pictured in Calcutta during his show Freddie Flintoff’s Field of Dreams
England manager Freddie Flintoff during a training session at Headingley, Leeds, on May 21
Freddie Flintoff on a motorized tricycle while filming a series of Top Gear
He was driving a convertible car when the vehicle overturned at Dunsfold Park airfield in Surrey in December 2022 as part of filming for Top Gear.
But it’s the teenage cricket team he created in his hometown of Preston that gives him the motivation to go out into the world again.
In emotional scenes that will air on the show, one of the boys tells her: “I missed you.”
Once the team is in Kolkata, India, Freddie says he will “turn to cricket to help me.”
He says: “Cricket is like a religion in India. It is present everywhere. And Kolkata is different from other places I have been.
‘For me, Kolkata is the authentic India and the more time I spent there, the more affinity and connection I developed with the place, because we all learned a lot and it had a huge impact on our lives.
“I’ve been to some amazing places, like Victoria Falls. I look at it and think, ‘OK, that’ll do.’ But Calcutta, the more time I spent there, the more I enjoyed it and I really liked it.
“Viewers can expect everything: seeing India, tears, joy, life lessons, hope, ambition, passion, victories, defeats and a lot of excitement. I think it will be something they have never seen before, from start to finish. I really do.”
He added: “When I am around cricket, I seem to forget everything, I get lost in the game.
“I feel like I’ve been more vulnerable than I’ve ever been in my life in the last 12 months.”
During a discussion about the programme, the cricketer reflected on how the eventual trip to India with the group of youngsters turned out to be a positive experience.
He told reporters: “I guess I’ve regained the confidence that I’ve been lacking a bit of lately.”
Flintoff added: ‘I always wanted to do it again, I probably shouldn’t say it in this room, but I fell into a television trap and did television, this, that and the other thing.
“Now, looking to the future, I would obviously love to get more involved in coaching, I don’t know in which club or where. I’m quite open to all that and also to a bit of television, to continue with that.”
Freddie Flintoff’s Field of Dreams On Tour concert will be broadcast on BBC1 at 9pm tonight and is available on iPlayer.