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Freddie Flintoff reveals his three-year-old son's harrowing reaction to his facial injuries after horror crash - and it's every parent's worst nightmare
@Source: dailymail.co.uk
Freddie Flintoff reveals his three-year-old son’s harrowing reaction to his facial injuries after his horror crash in his upcoming 90-minute Disney+ documentary.
Flintoff, which hits the streaming service on Friday 25 April, will take an 'intimate and unprecedented look' at the cricketer's life.
Freddie, 47, was airlifted to hospital after his three-wheel Morgan Super 3 flipped at Dunsfold Park Aerodrome, Surrey, during filming for BBC's Top Gear in December 2022.
He was left with multiple facial injuries and broken ribs, and has had multiple surgeries following the crash.
The documentary will follow Freddie's life after the incident and how he coped with it all.
Speaking about how it impacted his children, who he shares with wife Rachael Woods, Freddie said: 'You want to be there for the kids and you don't want to miss stuff, fortunately I've got four of them.
'I spent all this time with the three and a half year old and he won't come near me, he'd get frightened of my face, frightened of me.
'That was heartbreaking.'
Freddie is a proud dad to his three sons Corey, 18, Rocky, 16, Preston, four, and 19-year-old daughter Holly.
The synopsis of the documentary reads: '"Flintoff" is an exclusive documentary that takes an intimate and unprecedented look at the life of one of Britain’s most beloved sportsmen and TV personalities, Andrew “Freddie” Flintoff.
'With exclusive access to Flintoff and featuring his wife Rachael and close friends including Michael Vaughan, James Corden, and Jack Whitehall.
'The film documents his compelling life story from winning two Ashes series for England, to becoming a British TV icon, and finally, returning to the game following his life-altering car crash in 2022.
'This is a story of resilience through career highs, personal challenges, and the pressures of living under the public gaze.'
And Freddie's wife claims she has 'never seen someone so scared' when visiting her husband in hospital after his life-altering car crash.
She also reveals how she instructed their children to react when they were confronted with his injuries.
Rachael reflects she had 'never seen someone so scared in their eyes', before seeking to reassure her husband that he would recover from the crash.
'I got a phone call, Andrew has been in an accident in Top Gear but we don’t have much information,' Rachael says on the documentary.
'I think they might take him to the nearest hospital, it sounds like it’s just his teeth but we think he’ll be fine. I put the phone down and I didn’t think much of it to begin with, it just kind of escalated very quickly.
‘I wasn’t getting information, I didn’t know how he was injured and I just started grabbing all my stuff and thought I’m going to head to London and hopefully someone will tell me where he is.
'When I did see him, I walked in the room he was in the bed and he was bandaged up, but his eyes, I’ve never seen someone so scared in their eyes.
'He just stared at me and I think he was looking at me to know how bad he was.
'I did totally pull myself together and I didn’t cry and said “it’s fine you’re going to be okay, I can’t believe how amazing you look".’
Rachael reveals she instructed their children not to react when the confronted with his injuries for the first time in an attempt not to knock him as he continued his recovery.
'Before we got home I did call the kids,' she says.
"You’ve just got to be as strong as you’ve ever been, your dad does look different at the moment.
'It’s going to get better but I don’t want you to look shocked and horrified because that’s going to knock him".
'That was hard, and Andrew doesn’t know I’ve done that and I’m just so grateful to all of those people.
'I still have a husband, the kids still had their dad and I’m very aware there are other people going through similar or very worse things without the help we had.
'I think you saw none of Fred at all, he just zoned out didn’t want to speak to everyone. He just didn’t want to do anything. It was like the lowest I’ve ever, ever seen him.'
Speaking ahead of the launch of the doc, Freddie said: 'I didn’t leave the house for probably six or eight months. The only times I was leaving the house was for medical appointments and surgeries.
'A mate of mine, Rob Key, who is actually my boss, known him for 30 years, he started inviting me to come and watch the cricket, test matches, but sit in a back room not in the crowd. I was wearing a full face mask for months.
'I started getting back into it and started to find my feet a little bit.
'Ever since I can remember, from being a kid, cricket was a massive part of my life.'
Daily Mail's Christopher Stevens has given the documentary five stars in a recent review.
'This is the Disney version, after all. And surely the story of this great English sporting hero deserves a happy ending,' he says.
Flintoff streams on Disney+ from Friday 24 April.
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