Duff Goldman Injured in Crash Allegedly Caused by Drunk Driver: 'My Daughter Almost Didn't Have a Dad' (Exclusive)
"I've been hugging my family a lot," the Food Network star tells PEOPLE of his recovery since the Feb. 1 accident
Duff Goldman is recovering from a car accident involving a suspected drunk driver.
The Food Network star tells PEOPLE that he was being driven home in a black car from the Los Angeles airport on Feb. 1 when another car hit him head-on.
"I live on a really windy, canyon road in the Santa Monica Mountains, and this guy just came around this corner way too fast," says Goldman. "He was already totally in our lane and just smashed into us."
Goldman says he "saw the whole thing happen" and it was as if time slowed down. "I just saw my wife and my daughter. It was nuts," he adds. "And then boom, the crash happened. I was just doing a systems check, making sure everything was where it was supposed to be, and I see there's blood all the way down my hand, but nothing else. I was just like, 'Thank God, thank God.' Even as I was sitting there dealing with it, I was like, 'I'm still here.' "
The pastry chef, his driver, and the driver of the other car survived the crash but were taken to the hospital, he says. Goldman's dominant right hand was crushed, requiring stitches, and he is waiting on a specialist to confirm next steps.
"It definitely doesn't work," Goldman says of his hand. "And I need it to, because that's all I got."
Following the crash, Goldman went to check on the other driver. "He got out of the car and was kind of stumbling around. I was like, 'Oh, this guy is hurt.' And then I went over to see if he was all right and hold him upright. And I smelled his breath, and I was like ...," Goldman recalls trailing off. "Man, I was pretty angry."
The Charm City Cakes owner, who shares daughter Josephine, 3, with wife Johnna, posted about the accident on Instagram on Sunday because he wants his followers to think long and hard before drinking and driving.
Duff Goldman/Instagram
Duff Goldman's hand injury from a car accident."My daughter almost didn't have a dad because this guy was stupid," says Goldman. "There's so many ways to get to where you need to go at the touch of a button, you can get a ride to anywhere you need to go. There's just no excuse."
"I just hope that people stop and think and just be like, 'You know what? What's the big deal? Take an Uber, and then in the morning I got to take an Uber back to where my car is.' It's not a big deal," he adds.
Related: How Duff Goldman's Daughter Josephine Inspired His 40-Lb. Weight Loss
Since the incident, Goldman has been recovering at his Topanga, Calif. home with Johnna and Josephine by his side.
"I've been hugging my family a lot. I think they're getting sick of it," he says, laughing. "I just keep saying like, 'Come here. Give me a hug real fast."
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