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A enamel uncovered the place a piece 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 fast aftermath of his life-altering Top Gear automotive twist of fate, revealed for the primary time nowadays.
The graphic photos taken upon his arrival at St George’s Hospital, Tooting, by way of air ambulance from the crash web site of Dunsfold Aerodrome in Surrey, in conjunction with the ones right through and after 5 hours of surgical procedure on December 13, 2022, shape a part of Disney’s Flintoff documentary launched on Thursday night time.
There are snaps of Flintoff, mouth wedged open, being operated on as medical doctors reconstruct his facial options.
One displays him like a rag doll with a patch to the best facet of his mouth, a community of stitches throughout his cheeks, nostril and brow, puffy black eyes making him nearly unrecognisable.
‘I were given despatched the image, and I could not take a look at it,’ admits his former England captain Michael Vaughan.
WARNING: GRAPHIC IMAGES
Gruesome photos of the level of Andrew Flintoff’s in depth accidents after his Top Gear crash were printed in his new Disney+ documentary
On his trade in look, Flintoff himself says: ‘There are moments once I omit and I’m simply residing. It’s so great. And then you definately simply get a stark reminder. I am getting a sense over my face as a result of it is all tight, and it is other. I’ve were given no tooth, so one thing will fall out my mouth as I’m consuming. Or I glance in a replicate and all of it comes again.
‘You know, you assert that your face is your identification. How again and again can we listen that? People announcing it is what is within that counts, it isn’t the way you glance. B*****ks!’
Flintoff used to be using a Morgan Super 3 three-wheeled sports activities automotive when it overturned and crashed off of the Top Gear take a look at monitor in Surrey on December 13 2022 right through filming.
The automotive is an open-topped motor in a position to hitting 130mph – and the cricketer wasn’t dressed in a helmet when the auto flipped over.
Despite the auto being supplied with roll bars designed to offer protection to occupants within the match of turning over, Flintoff suffered serious facial accidents and damaged ribs.
Flintoff made the harrowing admission that the severity of the ache suffered in the middle of the crash made him want for demise.
‘I assumed I used to be lifeless, as a result of I used to be mindful however I could not see the rest,’ he mentioned – realising seconds later his hat had fallen over his eyes.
But as he lifted it up, he regarded down to peer blood – and used to be terrified that he now not had a face.
‘I assumed my face had come off. I used to be nervous to demise,’ he mentioned.
‘After the accident, I didn’t assume I had it in me to get via. This sounds terrible: a part of me needs I were killed, a part of me thinks “I wish I had died.”
Flintoff has spoken intimately in regards to the extent of his accidents from the crash just about 3 years on
In not up to two-and-a-half years, Flintoff – additionally recognized by way of his nickname Freddie – has made a exceptional restoration (pictured on the documentary’s premiere in April 2025)
An symbol following the scary crash used to be launched as a part of the trailer for the approaching Disney+ documentary
Flintoff used to be using a Morgan Super 3 three-wheeled sports activities automotive when it overturned and crashed off the Top Gear take a look at monitor
‘I didn’t need to kill myself, don’t mistake the 2 issues, however I used to be considering “this would have been so much easier.”‘
The former England captain additionally printed that the incident whilst filming for BBC TV display Top Gear in December 2022 replays time and again like a film in his thoughts.
‘In some ways it would have been easier if I’d gone unconscious and then been unconscious for a week or two, and you wake up and the stitches are out, but I remember everything,’ he said.
‘We’re more than likely doing about 40, 45 (mph). They have been simply appearing me tips on how to get the auto going sideways and the wheel got here up at the entrance. It’s a humorous factor rolling a automotive as a result of there is a level of no go back and the whole thing slows down. It’s so bizarre.’
Airlifted to St George’s Hospital in Tooting, Flintoff used to be being operated on quickly after arrival by way of Mr Jahrad Haq, an oral and maxillofacial surgeon.
‘I was on call that day and received a phone call from the A and E consultant. A lot of the injuries we have are managed at a more junior level before escalating to the consultant, so I knew something was up,’ Mr Haq mentioned.
‘His injuries overall, for the past 20 years of seeing maxillofacial trauma, I’d probably put in the top five.
‘He had a mixture of hard tissue and soft tissue injuries, broken teeth, lost teeth, elements of the upper jaw bone that were also fractured and displaced.
Mr Jahrad Haq (right), an oral and maxillofacial surgeon, operated on Flintoff, who had extensive damage to both the hard and soft tissue of his face
The former England cricket star has bounced back from losing a significant portion of his lips
Flintoff is seen looking at the reconstructive work in a mirror as part of the documentary trailer
‘His soft tissue injuries were very complex. It’s very unusual that you lose soft tissue, that you lose skin, and he’d lost a really significant portion of his upper lip, the skin and some of the underlying muscle and also his lower lip.’
Flintoff additionally had to triumph over going through his circle of relatives within the aftermath of the stunning crash. He stocks 4 youngsters – together with promising younger cricketer Rocky – with spouse Rachael Wools, who he married in March 2005.
Speaking about the way it impacted his youngsters he mentioned: ‘You need to be there for the youngsters and you do not want to pass over stuff, thankfully I’ve were given 4 of them.
‘I spent all this time with the 3 and a 1/2 12 months outdated and he may not come close to me, he’d get scared of my face, scared of me.
‘That used to be heartbreaking.’
Rachael relived the instant she first heard of Flintoff’s twist of fate, and the way she needed to get ready their youngsters for what she anticipated to be a hard enjoy when first visiting him in health facility.
‘I were given a telephone name, Andrew has been in an twist of fate in Top Gear however we don’t have a lot data,’ Rachael says at the documentary.
‘I feel they may take him to the closest health facility, it sounds find it irresistible’s simply his tooth however we predict he’ll be wonderful. I put the telephone down and I didn’t assume a lot of it initially, it simply more or less escalated in no time.
Flintoff printed the psychological toll of the wounds sustained when filming BBC motoring display Top Gear intended he didn’t depart the home for between six to 8 months (pictured 2022)
Rachael Wools (pictured in 2018), who married Flintoff in 2005, mentioned she warned their youngsters to take a look at to not seem too stunned by way of their father’s look
Freddie and his spouse Rachael proportion 4 youngsters in combination, together with Holly (pictured in 2005)
‘I wasn’t getting data, I didn’t know the way he used to be injured and I simply began grabbing all my stuff and idea I’m going to go to London and with a bit of luck somebody will inform me the place he’s.
‘When I did see him, I walked within the room he used to be within the mattress and he used to be bandaged up, however his eyes, I’ve by no means observed somebody so scared of their eyes.
‘He simply stared at me and I feel he used to be having a look at me to know the way dangerous he used to be.
‘I did completely pull myself in combination and I didn’t cry and mentioned “it’s wonderful you’re going to be k, I will be able to’t imagine how superb you glance”.’
Rachael printed she advised their youngsters to not react when the faced along with his accidents for the primary time in an strive to not knock him as he persisted his restoration.
‘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.
Rachael told her children they need ‘to be as strong as they’ve ever been’ before facing Freddie
Flintoff has opened up on his return to cricket after a near-fatal car crash in 2022
‘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.’
The psychological trauma suffered from the crash left Flintoff unable to leave his house for ‘six to eight months’, he admitted.
‘The only times I was leaving the house was for medical appointments and surgeries,’ he said.
And during his time away from the spotlight, Flintoff reflected on the extremities to which he was pushed during his time on TV.
‘That’s the danger that TV falls into — and I found out the hard way, eventually,’ Flintoff explained.
‘Everybody wants more, everybody wants that thing that nobody has seen before, everyone wants that bigger stunt. In some ways it’s, “Let’s have that close to pass over, as a result of then that’ll get audience”. Everything is about viewers. Always, always.
‘And I should have been cleverer on this, because I learnt this in sport as well… and was just treated like a piece of meat.
‘That’s TV and sport, I think that’s where they’re quite similar.
‘You’re just a commodity, a piece of meat.’
Flintoff was involved in two crashes while filming Top Gear before his December 2022 ordeal, but managed to escape serious injury on both occasions.
He was not so fortunate the third time. Top Gear was put on hold for the ‘foreseeable future’ after Flintoff’s crash and is yet to return, while the former England all-rounder received a £9m payout from the BBC.
Flintoff introduced Top Gear along Paddy McGuinness and Chris Harris, however said within the documentary that he slightly speaks to McGuinness anymore within the wake of his near-fatal crash.
Flintoff returned to cricket when he began working with England’s fast bowlers in 2023
‘We’ve been in contact,’ he said. ‘When I saw Chris we hugged each other, he got upset and I got a little bit upset.
‘I feel bad I haven’t been more in contact with him and Paddy. I think there were some comments that I’ve not spoken with Paddy for a while and part of it is for myself a little bit.
‘I hate the word triggering… but I’m worried about that. It’s also something that has stopped because of what’s happened to me. Their careers have been halted as well.
‘So I feel bad for them and also it’s like what happened gets dragged up enough in my own head without adding to that (by seeing them).’
Flintoff has found solace in cricket during his road to recovery. The 47-year-old returned to the international set up thanks to close friend and ECB director Rob Key encouraging him to join the team, and later filmed a second series of the hugely successful BBC programme Freddie Flintoff’s Field of Dreams.
‘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.’
Following the crash, Flintoff has returned to cricket in a training function, and is now operating with England Lions following a stint with the Under-19s and senior crew. Speaking to The Times, he has printed the way it felt to go back to the cricket highlight in Cardiff for a one-day global towards New Zealand and the psychological demons he battled.
‘That day in Cardiff, it took me 10 goes to leave my bedroom,’ he said. ‘I couldn’t get out of the room.
‘In that hotel room I was so anxious and worried. I eventually went down to breakfast, sat down and chatted with Reece Topley and then Jos [Buttler]. I had to go back to my room to get my baseball mitt and flicker and I was waiting for the lift again and heard footsteps. I knew it would be Stokesy [Ben Stokes].
‘I didn’t really know him then. I’ve built a great relationship with him since, but I was anxious about that, standing in the lift with him. We were both stood there. He’s Stokesy and I am supposed to be like that, I suppose, but I didn’t feel like that.
‘I got on the team bus. Jonny Bairstow came and sat with me. I’ve known Jonny since he was young, from playing with his brother. In the dressing room, Joe Root came over, one of the best men you’ll ever meet, and everyone made me feel so welcome. Slowly but surely I started to find my feet. And sitting on the balcony and being pictured. Even the press were nice about me. It’s amazing what an accident can do.’
‘Flintoff’ is to be had to observe now completely on Disney+
