Freeman recovers after car accident; announces plans for divorce

Just days after Morgan Freeman suffered a serious car accident along with a female passenger, the Oscar-winning actor's lawyer announced that Freeman and his wife Myrna Colley-Lee of 24 years are getting a divorce.

Attorney Bill Luckett said there is a "divorce action pending" but refused to give details, according to the Memphis Commercial Appeal newspaper. Celebrity news show "Access Hollywood" reported that Luckett said "for legal and practical purposes, [Freeman and Colley-Lee] have been separated since December of 2007."

Neither Freeman, Colley-Lee nor Luckett could be reached for comment.

The news came the day Freeman, a six-time NAACP Image Award-winner, was discharged from the Memphis Regional Medical Center. Freeman, 71, who suffered broken bones and other injuries, released a statement, which said: "I'm doing very well. I feel real good. I just really thank the staff at 'Elvis Presley [Hospital]' and many, many thanks to my many well-wishers. It's great to know people care about you," people.com reported.

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Freeman's hospital stay followed after he and Demaris Meyer, 48, of Memphis, were injured when the actor was driving Meyer's 1997 Nissan Maxima late one night on Mississippi Highway 32 in Tallahatchie County. The car veered off the road and flipped several times a few miles from Freeman's house in the Mississippi Delta.

Bill Rogers, a retired police officer who was the first person to arrive at the scene, said a dazed Freeman told him that he and Meyer were headed to his home in Charleston, just 90 miles south of Memphis. "He said that she had offered him a ride home; that they were friends ... and she really didn't know the way and so he was going to drive the vehicle," Rogers recalled. "Mr. Freeman thought he may have gone to sleep but wasn't sure. He didn't know what happened."

Emergency crews using the Jaws of Life extracted Freeman and Meyer from the vehicle. The two were then airlifted to the Memphis hospital.

According to publicist Donna Lee, the actor was in surgery and recovery over four hours to reconnect nerves and repair damage to his left arm and hand. He is expected to make a hill recovery.

Meyer's condition was not immediately available. Rogers said she did not appear to be injured as severely as Freeman.

Luckett, who co-owns the Ground Zero Clubs in Memphis and Clarksdale as well as the Madidi restaurant with Freeman, said that Meyer, a FedEx worker, is simply a friend.

"There is no juice there," he told the Commercial Appeal.

In 2005 Freeman won an Academy Award for his role in Million Dollar Baby. He can currently be seen in the action thriller The Dark Knight.