British actress Minnie Driver has revealed she is “grateful to be alive” after being involved in a serious car collision in France.
She shared the news with fans through an emotional Instagram video posted on Thursday.
The 56-year-old Good Will Hunting star, visibly shaken and wearing a neck brace while lying in bed alongside her dog, told followers she had sustained a sprained neck and was still processing the ordeal from her London home.
“I got into a really bad car accident a few days ago with my friend Ben, and we somehow walked out of it,” she said. “Well, we didn’t walk out of it; we crawled out of it, but we did get out of it alive.”
Minnie Driver’s car was involved in a car crash
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INSTAGRAM/BEN HOMEWOOD
The actress, who relocated back to London in 2024 after nearly three decades in California, said she remained deeply shaken by the experience.
Ms Driver explained that the collision occurred on a rural road in central France, where another car travelling at speed failed to give way at a junction.
“To be very clear, it was not our fault,” she stated. “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.”
The Kia EV2 in which she and actor friend Ben Homewood were travelling was struck side-on, leaving the vehicle severely damaged.
Her Instagram post included footage of the mangled wreckage, alongside a photograph showing the pair walking arm in arm through a hospital corridor in the aftermath.
Ms Driver confirmed she had never previously been involved in a road traffic accident.
The actress credited the electric vehicle’s safety features with keeping both occupants alive.
“The 360-degree airbags are what saved our lives,” she said. “The fact the entire car didn’t just concertina and crush us is down to the design of that car – which is frankly astonishing.”
Minnie Driver and pal Ben Homewood were both hospitalised
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INSTAGRAM/BEN HOMEWOOD
Ms Driver joked that the video was “categorically not a car ad” before adding: “Can you imagine if that was what I was doing?”
She went on to describe Kia as “a baller car company,” declaring she felt compelled to honour the vehicle that had protected her and Mr Homewood.
“I need to celebrate the car that saved us because we’ve got families and people who love us,” she said.
Ms Driver admitted she was struggling emotionally in the days following the crash, saying that her mind kept returning to the moment of impact.
Minnie Driver is an Oscar-nominated actress
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PA
“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.”
She thanked a van driver who pulled over to assist before emergency services reached the scene, whilst noting pointedly that another motorist slowed to observe the wreckage before driving away without offering help.
The Oscar-nominated actress, who earned acclaim for her portrayal of Skylar opposite Matt Damon in 1997’s Good Will Hunting, has more recently appeared in Netflix’s Emily in Paris and the Fox miniseries The Faithful.
She has a son, Henry, with television writer Timothy J Lea and is engaged to American filmmaker Addison O’Dea.