Freddie Flintoff suffered a horrific car crash while filming an episode of Top Gear in 2022, which left the former cricketer with life-changing facial injuries.
The 47-year-old TV star has opened up about his harrowing experience in a new documentary for Disney+, where he poignantly admitted he wished he had “died.” He shared, “My biggest fear was I didn’t think I had a face. I thought my face had come off. After the accident, I didn’t think I had it in me to get through. This sounds awful: part of me wishes I had been killed, part of me thinks “I wish I had died.”
During his recent recovery, Flintoff has been healing with the support of his wife and four children by his side. Throughout his career, the presenter and former international cricketer has appeared in shows such as I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here! and Sky One’s sports-based comedy panel show A League of Their Own, in addition to his role on Top Gear.
Here’s a look inside the star’s family life.
Freddie met Rachael Wools in 2002 at Edgbaston Cricket Ground, where she was promoting her business, Strawberry Promotions. The pair quickly hit it off, and after three years of dating, they tied the knot in March 2005 at the Pavilion Road Hotel in Knightsbridge, London.
In a candid 2007 interview with the Daily Mail, Rachael shared how her unexpected romance with Freddie began—and how he managed to win her over despite not being her usual type.
“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. I was pretty much bowled over by his charm.” she said.
“I didn’t actually know who Andy was at the time, not in a bad way. But I can’t put my finger on it, there was just something about him that was different.” Now, in Freddie’s new documentary, the business owner shared that despite her initial reservations, she quickly realised he was genuinely nice.
She said, “He introduced himself as Andrew, and I’ve always called him Andrew. We started talking, and then we didn’t stop talking. He was funny. I know he made me laugh, and I think the more I was talking to him, the more I was like, ‘Oh, you’re really lovely’.”
Despite being married for 25 years, the couple’s relationship has not always been smooth sailing. Freddie has been open about how his struggles with mental health, bulimia, and past alcohol addiction caused immense hardship for his wife, admitting that he “put her through hell” during those difficult times.
He began drinking at the age of 17, describing himself as a “competitive drinker” in his younger years. In his 2015 memoir, Second Innings: My Sporting Life, 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,” Freddie admitted in his 2015 memoir.
Freddie and his wife Rachael have four children: Holly, Corey, Rocky, and Preston. Their eldest, Holly, is 19 years old, while Corey is 18, and Rocky is 16. In December 2019, the couple welcomed their youngest, Preston, named after Freddie’s hometown of Preston, Lancashire.
Rocky has recently been making headlines for his cricket achievements. At just 16, he scored a century for Lancashire’s second XI, breaking his father’s record for the youngest to do so. He also impressed with a 108-run innings for the England Lions against a Cricket Australia XI in Brisbane.
Corey, also a budding cricketer, plays for Lancashire’s Under-18 team, while Holly and Preston’s current activities are less publicly documented.
In an emotional moment, Rachael recalled the first time she saw Freddie after his horrific accident. She described walking into the room to find him lying in bed, covered in bandages.
The sight of his eyes, filled with fear, was something she’d never forget. “When I did see him, I walked in the room, and he was just in the bed, and he was bandaged up. Like his eyes, I’ve never seen someone so scared in their eyes. And he just stared at me, and I just think he was looking at me to know how bad he was,” she said.
As she prepared for their children to see their father in this fragile state, Rachael knew she had to be strong for them as well. Before they headed home, she took a moment to call their kids, urging them to brace themselves.
“Before we got home, I did, I did call the kids, and I did say to them, ‘you’ve just got to be as strong as you’ve ever been. Your dad does look different at the moment. It’s gonna get better, but I don’t want you to look shocked and horrified, because that’s gonna knock him.’”
She went on to add: “And that was hard, but Andy doesn’t know I’ve ever done that. I was so grateful to all those people, I still had a husband, the kids still had their dad.”
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