Andrew Flintoff MBE, more affectionately known as “Freddie” Flintoff, shot to global fame as one of England’s leading all-round cricket players. His accolades include being named “Man of the Series” in the 2005 Ashes and serving as captain of the England cricket team.
After retiring from Test cricket in 2009 and transitioning fulltime to a radio and television career, Freddie gained millions more fans courtesy of his easy-going nature and positive outlook on life… not to mention his much-publicised love of a beer.
But behind all the bravado and machismo lies a vulnerable athlete who struggled for years with very real mental health issues. Now, he’s determined to provide a helping hand to those that need it.
Freddie’s brilliance on the cricket pitch is the stuff of legend. As a ten-year-old boy he was outperforming grown men. After turning pro, he continued to excel, but while still a young man navigating life as a professional athlete, Freddie’s weight rocketed up to almost 280 lbs. in the first half of his career.
It was a fact not lost on the sporting and entertainment press, who gleefully wrote column after column mocking the fast bowler and expert batter’s body shape online and in print.
This, coupled with an inner pressure to impress coaches, and maintain an elite level performance, would only serve to lead Freddie down a desperate path to bulimia nervosa: an eating disorder that in reality only served to heighten his insecurities around food, causing further mental and physical turmoil.
While bulimia will always be a long-term battle that is never far away from Freddie’s mind, he has bravely been able to open up on his experiences with the admirable aim of increasing awareness around mental health issues.
The British sporting icon, now 42-years-old, sat down exclusively with Muscle & Fitness to share how a renewed passion for exercise has helped with his own mental and physical outlook.
We were also lucky enough to get the exciting inside track on the insane stunts and testosterone-fueled adrenaline behind Top Gear, a series that is revered as the most watched car show in the world.
Top Gear’s Season 29 premieres Sunday, October 18th at 8 p.m./7c.
You have seen the sport of cricket evolve throughout the years. How has it changed?
I turned professional at 16, in the mid-nineties, and though cricket was a professional sport there was no real training [provided by coaches]. You just turned up a few weeks before the season, maybe we did one run, and then you were straight into it. Then throughout my career the players became athletes more and more. In the second half of my career, we trained so much. I used to do a lot of hill-running. I did really enjoy the training programs.
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Terry Harris/Shutterstock
What advice could you give to someone who enjoys the game and is looking to improve?
Practice. I’ve played with some of the best players who’ve never made it in the sport because they didn’t have the work ethic. And I’ve played with lads who, with no disrespect, were average but got every ounce out of themselves just through sheer hard work. Even throughout my career, I probably wasted three or four years by not working hard enough. Then, when all of a sudden, I got my head down and trained hard and practiced well my career went from strength to strength. So, there’s no substitute for hard work.
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Courtesy of Freddie Flintoff/Top Gear
You were once plunged off a 500-feet dam in Switzerland. What were you thinking in the moments before that epic drop?
That was the worst part, they hoisted me up on a crane, and while they were setting up all the different camera angles, I was sat there [looking straight down] for an hour and a half! By the end of it, I wanted to jump out, I just wanted to get down. So, I was quite relieved when I took the handbrake off and fell, because it meant it was over. But I think that’s one of the great things about the show, you get to do things that you never thought were possible. It’s a treat really.
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Courtesy of BBC
A lot of care must go into ensuring that these types of stunts are safe?
I’ve got the upmost trust in the crew, and the people that put all of this together. There may be three presenters at the front, but behind everything is a big team effort. It’s just that we are the ones that get to have the fun in front of the camera.
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Tony Sapiano/Shutterstock
Has your love of cycling helped with joint mobility?
Yeah, definitely, because I have a metal clamp in my right knee so I can’t run. So, it’s been the bike for me, and over the last couple of years I have got quite into cycling. I find that if you are fitter, it makes everything better. You feel better about yourself, you look better, and it also allows you to do your job because some of these Top Gear trips are gruelling. Fitness has been a big part of my life for the last twenty-five years, and probably even more so now. I enjoy training now, more than I ever have.
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Jonathan Hordle/Shutterstock
What has been your favorite stunt, so far?
There’s a couple. The Wall of Death (a carnival daredevil act where the drivers steer their vehicles around a vertical wooden cylinder) was brilliant. We also drove some electric cars around Alton Towers Theme Park (in Staffordshire, England). We had the whole park to ourselves! I used to go there as a kid and I’ve taken my kids there, and now I’m driving around it in an electric mini at 90 mph thinking ‘this is brilliant’!
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Courtesy of BBC
What has been your favorite car to drive?
I got to drive a Jaguar XJ220. I remember when that car first came out and I remember not believing that anything could cost that much money to buy. I got the chance to drive it at 200mph on a runway and do you know what? That was the favorite thing that I have done on Top Gear. I loved it. It was like Marty McFly in Back to the Future… everything was rattling! That’s the fastest I’ve ever been in a car.
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Steve Meddle/Shutterstock
From your perspective, how important is maintaining your physical health as relates to looking after yourself mentally?
I’ve said for a long time, especially since retiring from cricket, that one of the reasons I train is obviously to be physically fitter, but one of the big things for me is mental health. When I train, I feel better. When I’m physically fitter, my mental health is better. In many ways training is more for my head than for my body. It is so important to me, and it’s something that I’ve spoken out about and it is part of me now, and I don’t try and hide. There should be no shame attached to mental health issues.
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Courtesy of BBC
How do we ensure that people seek help when it comes to mental health issues?
We need to try and normalize it. If you have a headache you take a pain killer, if you’ve got a problem with your knee, you will go and see a physio. Mental health is exactly the same, the way I see it, if you have a mental health problem or you feel yourself getting feeling down, or heavens forbit you feel depressed, sit down and see a therapist.
I’ve got coping mechanisms and good people around me. The one thing I will say, and I know it’s a cliché to say but, ‘it’s good to talk’. When you tell someone [that you are suffering], I can’t tell you how much relief you feel, and the weight that is lifted off your shoulders. Telling someone is the first way to address a problem and the first step to making things better.
Watch Freddie Flintoff and the gang on Top Gear, broadcast on BBC America.
