Football Daily - The exclusive Michail Antonio interview: 'I was close to dying'

Episode Date: March 17, 2025

In an exclusive interview with BBC Morning Live’s Helen Skelton, Michail opens up about just how badly injured he was, what he remembers of the day, how his children have been shielded from the worst of the news, and why he is so certain he will play at the highest level in the near future.

BBC Sounds music radio podcasts. The football daily podcast on BBC Sounds. The obvious place to begin is how are you physically, mentally? Where are you at? Yeah, I'm in a good place, to be fair. I'm a good three months ahead of where I should be. I've lifted 130 kg on the leg and I'm trying to do other things and just trying to focus on myself and so it is definitely a good place right now and mentally I'm in a good place too.

For people who don't know what surgery you had because you had a car accident in which you broke your leg, what surgeries have you had to have? I shattered my femur bone in four different places so they've had to put the bone back together to try and keep it so they can knit back together and they say between six to twelve months before it starts healing properly. Let's rewind to how this began. You had a traumatic experience in your words, you had a car crash which was a bad car crash. How much can you remember of the day it happened? It's crazy because I don't remember much at all.

I remember being in my house, going outside with the car key. And I was like, I don't want to take this car today, I'm going to take the other car. But my missus was like, can you take the kids bags out of the car? Being lazy, couldn't be bothered to do it. I was like, I'm just going to take this car. And that's the last thing I remember, leaving the house, going to trade-in. Do you remember coming to you in the car or anything about the accident? Nothing, which is weird because the whole way through this, everybody has told me that I was awake and speaking to everybody.

What do you know about what happened? I remember when I was driving in, it was windy, it was wet, it was like, it was a horrific day. I had the car for three weeks and I was already thinking about giving it back because the back of the car kept swinging out on me, so I didn't really feel safe in the car. All I know is that I hit a tree, I don't know how I hit a tree. That the police came and when they found me in the car, I was in between the two seats. And they said that it looked like I was trying to climb out

of the window, but obviously because my leg was so badly broken, the pain probably stopped me from being able to get out. Once they got me out, everyone believed that I got air ambulance out, but because it was a storm day, the helicopter couldn't get off the ground. So I was driven to the hospital. Have you seen the car? Because there were photographs. I went to go see the car three weeks ago,

and it gave me like a weird feeling in my stomach. It was difficult to see for me. And I hope you don't mind me saying, but it looks like it is still difficult for you. I think since the car crash I've been more emotional than I've ever been in my life and I think since I've been more emotional of not being able to control it more I think it's made me have an easier and happier life because I get rid of that frustration and all that build up of stuff that I keep pushing down is actually letting itself out. You've got six children and a partner and a family. I mean, how were they after this, during this? To be fair, we kept it away from the kids.

My eldest saw it, and he struggled about it because obviously people were showing him pictures. But the younger ones, they never really know how bad the situation was. They kind of avoided it, getting on the internet and then letting them see it. It was more for me the aspect of... I almost wasn't there for them. And that was the most difficult part for me.

And is that something that you've thought about or think about? 100%. And now it's just made me happy, positive in life because obviously I've got another chance at life. The accident attracted a lot of attention. Are you surprised at how much on people's radar this was? Oh, it's actually crazy. It's mind-blowing for me. I didn't realise the popularity until my family, my friends showed me. It was insane. But unfortunately when you're on people's radar, people have something to say. Lots of people speculated, they said Premier League footballer, there was car crash in December, drinking drugs must be involved, said some people. How is that for you?

People are always going to make speculations, people are always going to think negative things, it's just a part of the human nature. I was literally on my way home from training, so there's no way or no space for me to have any drinks or any drugs. I've never taken drugs in my life anyway and I've said it live on TV that I like a drink, but in this situation there was no drugs, there was no drink, that has been ruled out, confirmed by the police. This is your second accident in a fast car in a number of years, but we've got to talk about the supercars. I'm not going to lie to you, I've always been fans of sports cars, it's something I've always

get and I like to be a fan of sports cars and old classics. It's like sports cars are not my friends. So right now I have a people carrier. For now anyway I'm staying far away from sports cars. How do you feel about getting behind a wheel? Actually I'm fine. The only problem I have with it right now is if something happens. It's not even like a big crash it's just more like if a small thing happens and I get a little bump, I'm thinking, everyone's gonna be like,

oh, Mikael's being in the crash again. You've got this remarkable perspective that you're like, you know, I nearly died, I've got to look at things in a positive way. Do you think you've processed it? I've processed it to a certain degree. I think the emotions is going to take a long time. Physically, I'm getting better,

but mentally, trauma lasts a long time. So there's'm getting better but mentally trauma lasts a long time so it's there's always going to be periods and there's always going to be times where something's going to affect me, something's going to trigger something. So you've been good over the years at putting up that kind of protective bubble so you get on with what you want to do. Have you had to let your guard down? It's not about letting my guard down it's just from the crash I've been more of an emotional man So like I'm not gonna lie. I was avoiding going back because I was slightly embarrassed by the crash I was slightly embarrassed by the by the accident and I didn't really want to be seen. Why? I was embarrassed like obviously I've almost died in the car crash It just made me slightly embarrassed that

It was that bad. You've talked about therapy even before the crash. This feels like something you're quite proud to own that you do. Oh, 100%. Therapy is one of the best things that's happened to me in my life. It wasn't until I was going through a hard time in my own life where I was like, actually, I'm struggling here. I tried to speak to my friends, but my friends were just giving their opinions. It wasn't until I went to a blank sheet and the blank sheet is the therapist who don't really give their opinions, they listen to you and they ask you questions for you to delve into yourself, for you to

understand why these things are happening to you. So if I could change the world, the one thing that I would do, I would implement therapy on every individual in the world at certain parts in their life, 10, 16, 21, 30, because everyone's going through certain things in life at different stages of their life because being able to open yourself up, being able to understand what's going on in your life just helps people and I think it will also help the suicide rate. As a Premier League footballer in a very macho, alpha male environment, I mean I'm making an assumption, never been in a locker room,

but I can't imagine it's easy to go in and say, hey guys I'm having therapy. To be honest at first I kept it hidden, I didn't tell anyone about it, I kind of did it myself and just kept it secret. Why? Because as a footballer that's what it's about. Because everyone, as much as you need to be a team for 11 people, you also need to be an individual.

And you need to worry about yourself. Because no one else is going to go out there and do the job for you. You get injured and your career comes to an end. No one else is picking up and no one else can play for you. If you get injured and your career comes to an end, no one else is picking up and no one else can play for you. So as much as you're a team and you're out there with 11 other men and in the squad, but you need to focus on you as much as your team. How challenging is it when you're in that hospital bed, laying there, the season's going

on, they're winning if you, the new manager comes in, where's your head at? It was definitely a difficult time for me, something that I definitely had to bring up in therapy, because when the new manager comes in, that's the opportunity to show what you have and it took me a couple of weeks for me to get over that before I had to come and realise that it doesn't matter. For me, it needs to make sure that I'm physically right, that I'm doing the right things. Because if I try and rush myself back and go out there and try and show him what I can do when I'm not physically

right, it puts me in a bad stead because I won't be right. And I won't be able to do the things that I want to do. My body won't be able to. Did it ever cross your mind, I won't play again? Crazy thing is, like two weeks ago, I was talking to my physio and he went, do you have career engine insurance? And that was the only time I went to myself, wait, why are you asking me that? Why are you asking me that question?

He's like, no, no, no, I'm just asking you blah, blah, blah, obviously you're undercover on all bases. And that night, I didn't sleep a wink. That night, I was up all night thinking, is he trying to tell me something? Yeah. He's like, you're doing well. So I just needed to ask you these questions.

West Ham invited you down when they were playing against Newcastle. I mean, wildly emotional scenes. You've got to have a heart of stone not to be choked up by the reaction and the outpouring of love that you had. That must show to you how much they love you, the club. Oh, 100%.

And to be honest, what the club did for me from the crash up until now was unbelievable. The support they gave me on and off the field. The weekend that I did the crash they played Wolves on the Monday and the whole team weren't out in Antonio shirts so we auctioned those shirts off for the emergency services. So in conclusion then how confident are you you will be back on a pitch? I'm 100% I'll be back on the pitch. This is what I'm focused on, this is why I'm in six days a week. Mentally, I believe so too because I'm one thing is I never give up. I'm always focused, I always

push myself and this is just another setback and this is not going to stop me. Thank you for sharing and being so honest with us. No, thank you for having me. daily podcast on BBC sound. It's the scandal that rocked rugby union to its core. The so-called a bloodgate scandal. It seems so clear that this wasn't real blood. It's out and out cheating. This is a story of lies and deception, conspiracies and cover-ups. There was terror that it could tear the house down. Courtroom drama and secret deals. So obviously a lie. And a human cost that changed lives and careers forever.

Dean Richards is found guilty and banned for three years. I'm Ross Kemp and this is Sports Strangers Crimes, Bloodgate. Listen on BBC Sounds.