Andrew Flintoff struggled with anxiety, experiencing “nightmares and flashbacks” and was “crying every two minutes” after being seriously hurt in a high-speed car crash while filming Top Gear.
The former England captain revealed he only left his home for medical appointments in the seven months following the accident at Surrey’s Dunsfold Aerodrome in December 2022 which left him with facial and rib injuries. Following the incident, the BBC announced it had “rested” Top Gear for the foreseeable future.
His comments came in a new BBC documentary, called Freddie Flintoff’s Field Of Dreams On Tour, which sees the 46-year-old take a group of young people from his home town of Preston on a cricketing tour of India.
“I don’t want to sit and feel sorry for myself, I don’t want sympathy, but it’s going from being here for seven months, to going to India,” Flintoff said, speaking on the programme about the crash for the first time.
“As much as I want to go out and do things, I’ve just not been able to. I’m struggling with my anxiety, I have nightmares, I have flashbacks, it’s been so hard to cope.
“But I’m thinking if I don’t do something, I’ll never go. I’ve got to get on with it.”
Flintoff has made a gradual return to public duties, rejoining England’s backroom staff for their T20 series against the West Indies earlier this year and taking charge of the Northern Superchargers in The Hundred.
The documentary shows the former Lancashire all-rounder in hospital shortly after the crash, where he says it will be “a long road back”, but adds he is looking forward to seeing his young cricket team again.
“I genuinely should not be here after what happened,” Flintoff said. “I need help, and I realise I’m not the best at asking for it. I need to stop crying every two minutes.
“I’ve got to look at the positives, haven’t I? I’m still here, I’ve got another chance, I’ve got to go at it. I’m seeing that as how it is, a second go.”
Flintoff added he thought he could “just shake it off” but said things had been “a lot harder than I thought”.
“I’m better than I was,” Flintoff said. “I don’t know what completely better is. I am what I am now, I’m different to what I was, that’s something I’ll have to deal with for the rest of my life.”