Dick Van Dyke, 97, Breaks His Silence After He Crashes His Car

Last week, we reported that the 97 year-old Hollywood legend Dick Van Dyke crashed his car into a gate near his home in Malibu, California. Now, Van Dyke has broken his silence about the accident to let the world know how he’s doing.

Van Dyke Speaks Out

Van Dyke told Daily Mail that he is “sore all over” after “faceplanting into his steering wheel” when he crashed his Lexus LS 500 into a gate in Malibu. The former Mary Poppins star made this comment when he was approached by reporters on Friday as he got a ride from his 51 year-old wife Arlene Silver.

“I’m fine, just sore all over,” Van Dyke said when asked how he’s doing. “The airbag did not deploy, so I just did a face plant right into the steering wheel and it just made me a little dumber.”

“I’m 97, all my friends are dead,” he continued, going on to credit his wife for helping him by saying that “without her” he would “probably be dead.”

Related: Dick Van Dyke, 97, Involved In California Car Crash

Van Dyke’s Crash

This comes after police sources told TMZ that Van Dyke crashed his 2018 Lexus LS 500 into a gate earlier this month, with officers finding him behind the wheel when they arrived on the scene. Alcohol and drugs were reportedly not a factor in the crash. 

Van Dyke was left with minor injuries that saw him bleeding from the nose and mouth, and he may have suffered a concussion. Despite this, he refused to go to the hospital, with paramedics instead treating him at the scene before a friend came to pick him up and take him home.

Afterwards, police sent paperwork to the DMV requesting a driving retest for Van Dyke, with one of the main factors behind this being his advanced age. 

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Related: Dick Van Dyke, 97, Revealed As The Gnome On ‘The Masked Singer’

Van Dyke’s Previous Crash

Fox News reported that this came ten yers after Van Dyke survived a car fire when his Jaguar burst into flames on freeway in Los Angeles. Van Dyke was driving near the suburb of Calabasas on August 12, 2013 when his car caught on fire, according to the California Highway Patrol. Another driver saw the car catch fire and managed to intervene to pull Van Dyke to safety.

Van Dyke said afterwards that he did not realize his car was on fire until he was pulled from the vehicle. 

“It just started making a noise, and I thought I had a flat at first, then it started to smoke, then it burned to a crisp,” he told TMZ at the time. 

Van Dyke’s Romantic History

Silver is Van Dyke’s second wife, as he was previously married to Margie Willett from 1948 until they divorced in 1984. After his divorce, he was in a relationship with the actress Michelle Triola for over thirty years before she passed away in 2009. Van Dyke was 81 when he met Silver, who was 35 at the time.

“We share an attitude,” Van Dyke previously said of Silver. “She can go with the flow. She loves to sing and dance, which we do almost every day. She’s just delightful.”

Van Dyke is a true living legend, and we are so grateful that he is still with us on this Earth. While we can certainly understand that he wants to maintain his independence by continuing to drive, perhaps it’s time for him to consider having someone else drive him around instead, just to ensure that he stays healthy and safe for as long as possible.