- Andrew Flintoff was involved in a near-fatal car crash in December 2022
- The crash occurred while filming Top Gear and left Flintoff with severe injuries
- His wife has revealed how Flintoff was 'so scared' in the aftermath of the crash
Andrew Flintoff's wife has revealed how she tried to comfort her husband after his near-fatal Top Gear car crash in December 2022.
Flintoff, 47, had to be airlifted to hospital after the Morgan Super 3 three-wheeled sports car he was driving flipped over and crashed off the test track at the Dunsfold Aerodrome in Surrey during filming.
Rachael Wools, 43, shares four children with Flintoff and has been married to the former England cricket star since March 2005. She visited him in hospital in the immediate aftermath of his crash and has now opened up in Flintoff's new Disney+ documentary about how she reacted to seeing him for the first time with his gruesome injuries.
Flintoff suffered severe facial injuries and multiple broken ribs, and Rachael has explained how she knew she had to reassure her husband after realising how shaken up he was by the ordeal.
'I've never seen someone so scared in their eyes,' Rachael recalled as she wiped away tears. 'He just stared at me. And I think he was just looking at me to know how bad he was.
'To be fair, I totally pulled myself together and I just didn't cry. I just said 'it's fine, you're going to be OK. I can't believe how amazing you look'.'
Andrew Flintoff was left with severe facial injuries after his Top Gear car crash in 2022
His wife, Rachael (pictured), has revealed how he was 'so scared' after the near-fatal crash
Flintoff and Rachael have been married for 20 years and have four children together
Rachael managed to stay strong when Flintoff was at his most vulnerable, despite originally not knowing how serious the accident had been.
She admitted in the documentary that she was initially given little detail about the crash, but it quickly became apparent when she arrived at the hospital that Flintoff was badly hurt.
'I got a phone call, Andrew has been in an accident in Top Gear but we don't have much information,' Rachael said.
'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.'
The former model and entrepreneur turned her attention to her children before Flintoff returned home from hospital, revealing she instructed them to not react when they saw him as he started his long road to recovery.
'Before we got home I did call the kids,' she added.
'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'.
Flintoff and Rachael tied the knot just months before his Ashes-winning exploits in 2005, and she has revealed how she was there for him when he was at his lowest point
Rachael revealed how she told their four children, including two who have followed Flintoff into cricket, not to react when he returned home from hospital
Rachael admitted Flintoff 'zoned out' in the months after his crash, but he has now returned to the public spotlight
'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.'
Over two years on from his life-changing crash, Flintoff has made a remarkable recovery after returning to the public spotlight.
He refused to go out of his house in the months that followed the accident, but returned to cricket in a coaching capacity with the England team in September 2023.
Flintoff was then handed his first head coach role last summer when he led the Northern Superchargers in the Hundred, and he was placed in charge of the England Lions over the winter, as he looked to develop the next generation of stars for the national side.
He also made a recent appearance on The Jonathan Ross Show, and has now been promoting his eye-opening documentary which aired in full on Disney+ on Friday.
