Minnie Driver, 56, shared on Instagram Thursday in a video while laying in bed and wearing a neck brace that she got into a really bad car accident a few days ago with her friend Ben and they crawled out of it alive.
The collision occurred on a country road in the middle of France when a car didn’t stop at an intersection and was going at speed, and they T-boned it.
“I got into a really bad car accident a few days ago with my friend Ben and we somehow walked out of it,” Driver said in the video.
“Well, we didn’t walk out of it. We crawled out of it.
But we did get out of it alive.”
Driver stressed that neither she nor her companion was responsible for the crash.
“To be very clear, it was not our fault. We were driving on a country road in the middle of France and a car didn’t stop at an intersection and was going at speed, and we just T-boned it.”
She has a sprained neck and is really in shock and cries all the time, but she said she’s going to heal.
Physically, Driver’s injuries were relatively minor despite the severity of the collision.
“I’m fine, I’ve got a sprained neck and I’m really in shock and sort of cry all the time, but I’m going to heal.”
The car prevented catastrophe.
Driver praised the Kia EV2 she was driving for being “the reason that I’m not dead” because of its “360-degree airbags.”
She said “the reason I’m not dead, honestly, is the car that we were driving, we were in this little tiny KIA EV2. I’ve never been in a crash before, but the kind of 360-degree airbags are what saved our lives.”
“The fact that the entire car didn’t just crush us is down to the design of that car which is frankly astonishing.”
Driver joked about her enthusiastic praise for the vehicle.
“While this categorically not a car ad — can you imagine if that’s what I was doing — I want to celebrate that car,” she said.
“You know, I’m Minnie Driver, pun intended. I need to celebrate the car that saved us, because we’ve got families and people who love us, and I am so grateful to be alive.”
Driver’s gratitude extended beyond the vehicle to those who helped them.
The star thanked the van driver “who stopped and helped us before the ambulances arrived” in her caption.
Driver wrote, “Shout out to the van driver who stopped and helped us before the ambulances arrived. Special mention to the car who slowed down took in the scene and drove off without stopping. I guess this is the Dao of the world, the light and the dark.”
Emotionally, the experience has been difficult as Driver processes the trauma.
She added, “My brain keeps replaying the crash which is very hard but seems to be a necessary part of processing.”
She wrote, “Weeping too, feels good and helpful.
Thank you to my friends, my family, all the people at work and especially my friend Ben and his family.”
The video ended with a photo of the totaled car and one of Driver and her friend walking out of the hospital together, arm in arm.
In the viral moment, Driver was riding with her friend Ben Homewood on a country road near Paris when an oncoming vehicle ran through a traffic intersection without stopping. The other car was traveling at speed and struck their vehicle head-on in a T-bone collision. Both occupants were transported to the hospital by ambulance. Driver returned from her holiday in France early due to the incident, and she posted the update from back in London.
“So, Kia, you are a baller car company,” Driver concluded. “You’re amazing, and thanks very much from me and my mate Ben.”