Food Network Star Duff Goldman Hospitalized After Crash With Alleged Drunk Driver

Duff Goldman is thanking his “lucky stars” after being involved in a crash with a suspected drunk driver. The Food Network star, 49, took to Instagram Sunday to share his thoughts after the car he was being driven home in from the Los Angeles airport on Feb. 1 was hit head-on by another car. 

“On my way home from the airport I was thinking about what kind of cake I was going to make for my daughters birthday. Next thing I knew I bleeding and surrounded by airbags,” said the Charm City Cakes owner, who shares daughter Josephine, 3, with wife Johnna. “A drunk driver had swerved into my lane on a windy country road. After doing a systems check and finding that my only injury was to my hand I thanked my lucky stars that I’d still be there to celebrate her third birthday even if I couldn’t make her cake.”

In the crash, Goldman’s right hand was crushed and required stitches. He told PEOPLE that he is waiting on a specialist to confirm the next steps that need to be taken, saying of his hand, “It definitely doesn’t work. And I need it to, because that’s all I got.”

He remembered that it felt like time slowed down the moment of the crash. “I just saw my wife and my daughter. It was nuts,” he added to the outlet. “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.’ “

When he went to check on the other driver, Goldman alleged that he smelled alcohol on his breath. “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 remembered, trailing off before adding, “Man, I was pretty angry.”

He continued on Instagram to urge people not to drive after drinking. “I’m fine, but it’s gonna be a long road to recovery, and for someone like me who makes a living with my hands you can imagine that this is no joke.” Goldman added, “There’s no excuse for driving drunk. None. Uber, taxi, call a friend. No excuse. Stay safe friends, count your blessings. If you’re drinking don’t drive, and if you’re driving, don’t drink.”