Sophie Morgan is a firm telly favourite – but her life changed forever following a horrific accident.
The 39-year-old presenter shot to fame thanks to appearances on ITV’s Loose Women, as well as presenting Channel 4’s Crufts. Sophie is also a passionate campaigner who has fought to provide representation for disabled people.
Sophie herself is disabled following a horrific car accident at the age of 18 that left her “instantly paralysed”.
Sophie Morgan ‘excited about life’ before accident
Sophie was 18 at the time of the accident. She recalled to Women’s Health: “I was so excited about everything: about life, about what was next, about who I was going to be, what I was going to do… I was so hungry for life.”
After receiving her A-level results, she and her friends headed over to an after-party, but things took a life-changing turn for Sophie.
Driving down country lines in Gordonstoun, Scotland, Sophie recalled how there was “no lighting” and she was driving like “someone who didn’t have much experience”.
I was instantly paralysed from the chest down.
She explained: “And in the two-mile journey between one party and the next, I lost control of the car. I flipped it; it crashed and rolled and spun and landed in a field.”
Sophie Morgan ‘instantly paralysed’ in accident
Sophie’s friends escaped with minor injuries. But as a result of the crash, Sophie’s cheekbone and jaw broke and her skull was fractured. What’s more, her collar bone snapped and her spine “moved enough that the vertebrae damaged the spinal cord”.
She revealed: “I was instantly paralysed from the chest down.” The horror incident has left Sophie in a wheelchair.
‘Trying to dismantle glass ceilings’
In October last year, Sophie spoke out on being paralysed for 20 years and shared how she’s determined to break the sigma for disabled people.
She told The Sun: “There are a lot of glass ceilings for people like me, and I’m constantly trying to dismantle those. It’s not about celebrating the fact that I was paralysed. It’s more about celebrating the fact I didn’t die, because I did very nearly die in the crash.”
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Catch Sophie on Crufts today (March 9) at 3.30pm on Channel 4.
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