Freddie Flintoff 'deserves every penny of £9m payout' after life-changing smash
Freddie Flintoff 'deserves every penny' of his reported £9m compensation from the BBC, according to the former wife of injured Olympic rower, James Cracknell.
Father-of-four, Freddie, 45, was seriously hurt while filming an episode of Top Gear in December, resulting in 'life-altering' injuries, prompting the rest of the series to be cancelled amid reports the show will be scrapped. He is now said to have agreed upon a multi-million pound sum from the broadcaster, who has "sincerely apologised" to the former cricketer while 'supporting him in his recovery'.
Bev Turner, who was married to James Cracknell, who suffered life changing injuries when filming for The Discovery Channel, says Freddie's compensation is 'well-deserved' as she opened up about her ex-husband's injury.
Andrew Flintoff in one of his first public outings since his Top Gear car crash (PA)
Freddie Flintoff has agreed a reported £9m compensation package from the BBC (Corbis via Getty Images)Taking to X, formerly Twitter, the GB News host said: "I know it might sound excessive, but Flintoff and his family deserve every penny of that £9m, as reported in The Sun. Life-changing injuries (both visible & invisible) have both huge short and long-term impacts on earnings for ex/current sportsmen.
"My then husband James Cracknell was injured in 2010 whilst filming a TV series for The Discovery Channel. Thus ensued 4 years of litigation stress that nobody knew about.
Flintoff's horror Top Gear crash was in roofless car and injuries 'more severe'
"I had a 5 year old, a 13 month old and discovered I was pregnant whilst he was in a coma. The expenses for us were huge. The loss of earnings (for both of us) were huge. The long term mental and physical health effects were huge. Arguably they are still felt by our children as we divorced. I’ve thought of Rachel Flintoff and the kids a lot over the last year.
GB News gold medalist James Cracknell and Beverley Turner before their split (Getty Images)
James suffered near-fatal head injuries (Ken McKay/ITV/REX)"So don't be so quick to judge either the BBC, Top Gear or Freddie. I'm just glad they reached a resolution relatively quickly so that they can start to heal together."
Two-time British Olympic rower James suffered near-fatal head injuries while he was attempting to cycle, row, run and swim from Los Angeles to New York in 2010. The incident caused him to suffer a contrecoup injury to the frontal lobes of his brain, leaving him with epilepsy and a changed personality.
Freddie is yet to speak out about the extent of his injuries, but the star's son, Corey, reportedly said his dad was "lucky to be alive" after the accident on the test track at Dunsfold Aerodrome and described it as a "pretty nasty crash".
The former England captain's facial injuries were still visible when he made a rare public appearance in September. Earlier this month, Freddie was filmed awarding an England cap to bowler Tom Hartley and spoke publicly for the first time about the incident, calling it "the hardest" time of his life.
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