Andrew Flintoff has opened up about his struggles with mental health after a car crash while filming Top Gear in 2022 changed his life dramatically.
In one of his first interviews since suffering serious facial injuries in the crash, Flintoff told former England captain and The Times cricket correspondent Mike Atherton of his initial reluctance to appear in public again.
The 47-year-old England all-rounder said it “took him 10 tries to leave the bedroom” due to the nerves of his first morning as England manager in 2023 and how shocked he was when he bumped into Ben Stokes in the hotel lift.
“That day in Cardiff (September 2023) it took me 10 tries to leave my (hotel) bedroom. I couldn't get out of the room.
“I was so worried and anxious. I ended up going down to breakfast; sat down and spoke to Reece Topley and then Jos (Butler).
“I had to go back to my room to get my baseball glove and my flicker, and I was waiting for the elevator again, hearing footsteps. I knew it would be Stokesy.”
“I didn't really know him then. We've had a great relationship since then, but at that moment I was nervous standing in the elevator with him.
“We were both standing there. He's Stokely and I should have been like him, I suppose, but I didn't really feel like it.
“I was approached in the dressing room by Joe Root, one of the finest men you will ever meet, and everyone around me felt welcome.
“Slowly but surely I started to return to normal life. And sitting on the balcony, and taking pictures. Even the press showed me kindness. It's amazing what chance can do.”
Flintoff retired from playing in 2010 at the age of 31, having played in 79 Test matches between 1998 and 2009, and stepped away from cricket to focus on his television career.
He told how old friend Rob Kay, the current England national team director,
Sourse: breakingnews.ie
