A tooth uncovered the place a bit of his higher lip was once, congealed blood coating a fusion of uncooked flesh and grit-dappled stubble, lacerations working like a tube map throughout his face.
These are the ugly photographs of Andrew Flintoff’s disfigurement within the quick aftermath of his life-altering High Gear automotive accident, printed for the primary time in the present day.
The graphic footage taken upon his arrival at St George’s Hospital, Tooting, through air ambulance from the crash web site of Dunsfold Aerodrome in Surrey, together with these throughout and after 5 hours of surgical procedure on December 13, 2022, type a part of Disney’s Flintoff documentary launched on Thursday night.
There are snaps of Flintoff, mouth wedged open, being operated on as medical doctors reconstruct his facial options.
One exhibits him like a rag doll with a patch to the appropriate aspect of his mouth, a community of stitches throughout his cheeks, nostril and brow, puffy black eyes making him virtually unrecognisable.
‘I bought despatched the image, and I could not take a look at it,’ admits his former England captain Michael Vaughan.
WARNING: GRAPHIC IMAGES THROUGHOUT
Grotesque footage of the extent of Andrew Flintoff’s in depth accidents after his High Gear crash have been revealed in his new Disney+ documentary
On his change in look, Flintoff himself says: ‘There are moments after I overlook and I am simply residing. It is so good. And you then simply get a stark reminder. I get a sense over my face as a result of it is all tight, and it is totally different. I’ve bought no enamel, so one thing will fall out my mouth as I’m consuming. Or I look in a mirror and all of it comes again.
‘You already know, you say that your face is your identification. What number of occasions will we hear that? Individuals saying it is what’s inside that counts, it is not the way you look. B*****ks!’
Flintoff was driving a Morgan Tremendous 3 three-wheeled sports activities automotive when it overturned and crashed off of the High Gear check observe in Surrey on December 13 2022 throughout filming.
The automotive is an open-topped motor able to hitting 130mph – and the cricketer wasn’t sporting a helmet when the automotive flipped over.
Regardless of the automotive being geared up with roll bars designed to guard occupants within the occasion of turning over, Flintoff suffered extreme facial accidents and damaged ribs.
‘Because it (the automotive) began going over, I appeared on the floor and I knew, if I get hit right here on the aspect [of the head] then I am going to break my neck, or if I get hit on the temple I am lifeless,’ he stated. ‘The most effective likelihood is to go face down.’
Flintoff made the harrowing admission that the severity of the ache suffered within the midst of the crash made him want for loss of life.
‘I assumed I used to be lifeless, as a result of I used to be acutely aware however I could not see something,’ he stated – realising seconds later his hat had fallen over his eyes.
However as he lifted it up, he appeared all the way down to see blood – and was terrified that he not had a face.
‘I assumed my face had come off. I used to be frightened to loss of life,’ he stated.
‘After the accident, I did not assume I had it in me to get by. This sounds terrible: a part of me needs I had been killed, a part of me thinks ‘I want I had died.’
Flintoff has spoken intimately in regards to the extent of his accidents from the crash practically three years on
In lower than two-and-a-half years, Flintoff – additionally identified by his nickname Freddie – has made a outstanding restoration (pictured on the documentary’s premiere in April 2025)
A picture following the horrifying crash was launched as a part of the trailer for the upcoming Disney+ documentary
Flintoff was driving a Morgan Tremendous 3 three-wheeled sports activities automotive when it overturned and crashed off the High Gear check observe
‘I did not need to kill myself, do not mistake the 2 issues, however I used to be considering ‘this could have been a lot simpler.”
The previous England captain additionally revealed that the incident whereas filming for BBC TV present High Gear in December 2022 replays time and again like a film in his thoughts.
‘In some methods it could have been simpler if I might gone unconscious after which been unconscious for per week or two, and also you get up and the stitches are out, however I keep in mind all the pieces,’ he stated.
‘We’re in all probability doing about 40, 45 (mph). They have been simply exhibiting me the best way to get the automotive going sideways and the wheel got here up on the entrance. It is a humorous factor rolling a automotive as a result of there is a level of no return and all the pieces slows down. It is so bizarre.’
Airlifted to St George’s Hospital in Tooting, Flintoff was being operated on quickly after arrival by Mr Jahrad Haq, an oral and maxillofacial surgeon.
‘I used to be on name that day and obtained a cellphone name from the A and E guide. Loads of the accidents we now have are managed at a extra junior degree earlier than escalating to the guide, so I knew one thing was up,’ Mr Haq stated.
‘His accidents general, for the previous 20 years of seeing maxillofacial trauma, I might in all probability put within the prime 5.
‘He had a combination of arduous tissue and mushy tissue accidents, damaged enamel, misplaced enamel, components of the higher jaw bone that have been additionally fractured and displaced.
Mr Jahrad Haq (proper), an oral and maxillofacial surgeon, operated on Flintoff
The no-holds-barred movie exhibits particulars from the in depth surgical procedure Flintoff obtained
The previous England cricket star has bounced again from dropping a good portion of his lips
Flintoff is seen wanting on the reconstructive work in a mirror as a part of the documentary trailer
‘His mushy tissue accidents have been very complicated. It’s extremely uncommon that you simply lose mushy tissue, that you simply lose pores and skin, and he’d misplaced a very significant slice of his higher lip, the pores and skin and among the underlying muscle and likewise his decrease lip.’
Flintoff additionally needed to overcome dealing with his household within the aftermath of the stunning crash. He shares 4 children – together with promising younger cricketer Rocky – with spouse Rachael Wools, who he married in March 2005.
Talking about the way it impacted his kids he stated: ‘You need to be there for the youngsters and you do not need to miss stuff, thankfully I’ve bought 4 of them.
‘I spent all this time with the three and a half 12 months previous and he will not come close to me, he’d get scared of my face, scared of me.
‘That was heartbreaking.’
Rachael relived the second she first heard of Flintoff’s accident, and the way she needed to put together their children for what she anticipated to be a troublesome expertise when first visiting him in hospital.
‘I bought a cellphone name, Andrew has been in an accident in High Gear however we do not have a lot data,’ Rachael says on the documentary.
‘I feel they may take him to the closest hospital, it sounds prefer it’s simply his enamel however we predict he’ll be positive. I put the cellphone down and I did not assume a lot of it to start with, it simply form of escalated in a short time.
Flintoff revealed the psychological toll of the accidents sustained when filming BBC motoring present High Gear meant he didn’t go away the home for between six to eight months (pictured 2022)
Rachael Wools (pictured in 2018), who married Flintoff in 2005, stated she warned their kids to strive to not seem too shocked by their father’s look
Freddie and his spouse Rachael share 4 kids collectively, together with Holly (pictured in 2005)
‘I wasn’t getting data, I did not know the way he was injured and I simply began grabbing all my stuff and thought I will head to London and hopefully somebody will inform me the place he’s.
‘After I did see him, I walked within the room he was within the mattress and he was bandaged up, however his eyes, I’ve by no means seen somebody so scared of their eyes.
‘He simply stared at me and I feel he was me to know the way dangerous he was.
‘I did completely pull myself collectively and I did not cry and stated ‘it is positive you are going to be okay, I can not imagine how wonderful you look’.’
Rachael revealed she instructed their kids to not react when the confronted along with his accidents for the primary time in an try to not knock him as he continued his restoration.
‘Earlier than we bought residence I did name the youngsters,’ she says.
‘You’ve got simply bought to be as robust as you’ve got ever been, your dad does look totally different for the time being.
‘It may get higher however I do not need you to look shocked and horrified as a result of that is going to knock him.
Rachael informed her kids they want ‘to be as robust as they’ve ever been’ earlier than dealing with Freddie
Flintoff has opened up on his return to cricket after a near-fatal automotive crash in 2022
‘That was arduous, and Andrew does not know I’ve completed that and I am simply so grateful to all of these individuals.
‘I nonetheless have a husband, the youngsters nonetheless had their dad and I am very conscious there are different individuals going by related or very worse issues with out the assistance we had.
‘I feel you noticed none of Fred in any respect, he simply zoned out did not need to communicate to everybody. He simply did not need to do something. It was just like the lowest I’ve ever, ever seen him.’
The psychological trauma suffered from the crash left Flintoff unable to go away his home for ‘six to eight months’, he admitted.
‘The one occasions I used to be leaving the home was for medical appointments and surgical procedures,’ he stated.
And through his time away from the highlight, Flintoff mirrored on the extremities to which he was pushed throughout his time on TV.
‘That is the hazard that TV falls into — and I came upon the arduous method, ultimately,’ Flintoff defined.
‘All people desires extra, all people desires that factor that no person has seen earlier than, everybody desires that larger stunt. In some methods it is, ‘Let’s have that close to miss, as a result of then that’ll get viewers’. Every thing is about viewers. All the time, all the time.
‘And I ought to have been cleverer on this, as a result of I learnt this in sport as nicely… and was simply handled like a chunk of meat.
‘That is TV and sport, I feel that is the place they’re fairly related.
‘You are only a commodity, a chunk of meat.’
Flintoff was concerned in two crashes whereas filming High Gear earlier than his December 2022 ordeal, however managed to flee severe harm on each events.
He was not so lucky the third time. High Gear was placed on maintain for the ‘foreseeable future’ after Flintoff’s crash and is but to return, whereas the previous England all-rounder obtained a £9m payout from the BBC.
Flintoff introduced High Gear alongside Paddy McGuinness and Chris Harris, however said within the documentary that he barely speaks to McGuinness anymore within the wake of his near-fatal crash.
Flintoff returned to cricket when he started working with England’s quick bowlers in 2023
‘We have been involved,’ he stated. ‘After I noticed Chris we hugged one another, he bought upset and I bought somewhat bit upset.
‘I really feel dangerous I have not been extra involved with him and Paddy. I feel there have been some feedback that I’ve not spoken with Paddy for some time and a part of it’s for myself somewhat bit.
‘I hate the phrase triggering… however I am apprehensive about that. It is also one thing that has stopped due to what’s occurred to me. Their careers have been halted as nicely.
‘So I really feel dangerous for them and likewise it is like what occurred will get dragged up sufficient in my very own head with out including to that (by seeing them).’
Flintoff has discovered solace in cricket throughout his highway to restoration. The 47-year-old returned to the worldwide arrange thanks to shut good friend and ECB director Rob Key encouraging him to hitch the group, and later filmed a second collection of the vastly profitable BBC programme Freddie Flintoff’s Discipline of Desires.
‘A mate of mine, Rob Key, who is definitely my boss, identified him for 30 years, he began inviting me to come back and watch the cricket, check matches, however sit in a again room not within the crowd. I used to be sporting a full face masks for months.
‘I began getting again into it and began to seek out my ft somewhat bit.
‘Ever since I can keep in mind, from being a child, cricket was a large a part of my life.’
Following the crash, Flintoff has returned to cricket in a training position, and is now working with England Lions following a stint with the Beneath-19s and senior group. Chatting with The Instances, he has revealed the way it felt to return to the cricket highlight in Cardiff for a one-day worldwide towards New Zealand and the psychological demons he battled.
‘That day in Cardiff, it took me 10 goes to go away my bed room,’ he stated. ‘I could not get out of the room.
‘In that resort room I used to be so anxious and apprehensive. I finally went all the way down to breakfast, sat down and chatted with Reece Topley after which Jos [Buttler]. I had to return to my room to get my baseball mitt and flicker and I used to be ready for the elevate once more and heard footsteps. I knew it could be Stokesy [Ben Stokes].
‘I did not actually know him then. I’ve constructed an important relationship with him since, however I used to be anxious about that, standing within the elevate with him. We have been each stood there. He is Stokesy and I’m presupposed to be like that, I suppose, however I did not really feel like that.
‘I bought on the group bus. Jonny Bairstow got here and sat with me. I’ve identified Jonny since he was younger, from taking part in along with his brother. Within the dressing room, Joe Root came to visit, top-of-the-line males you will ever meet, and everybody made me really feel so welcome. Slowly however absolutely I began to seek out my ft. And sitting on the balcony and being pictured. Even the press have been good about me. It is wonderful what an accident can do.’
‘Flintoff’ is out there to look at now completely on Disney+
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