Frankie Muniz — the “Malcolm in the Middle” star turned NASCAR driver — is off the racetrack, for now at least.
The actor is recovering from a broken wrist he suffered after falling from a ladder at his home, he wrote on Instagram on Thursday.
“The phrase ‘FML’ (Frankie Muniz’s Life) takes on new meaning with moments like these,” he wrote.
The accident came right before a NASCAR event at Darlington Raceway in Darlington, S.C., over Labor Day weekend.
Muniz shared that the ladder mishap happened when he was trying to change batteries on a backyard security camera. While he joked about the situation, he said he’s heartbroken to miss the competition.
However, Muniz’s NASCAR career is far from over. He estimates he’ll be back behind the wheel within a few months.
Muniz began his professional driving career in 2006, after the end of “Malcolm in the Middle,” a move that stemmed from his lifelong admiration for the sport.
This isn’t the first time Muniz has found himself on the mend. In a previous interview, the 39-year-old told People that he’s simply “injury-prone,” and broke 38 bones between 2006 and 2017.
Muniz was involved in a crash at a 2024 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Championship at Phoenix Raceway in Arizona. According to reports from a journalist at the track, Muniz was seen limping into an ambulance after a hard hit from behind, but escaped major injury.
Neither that nor his latest fall are as harrowing as his major crash in 2009.
During a race, the then-21-year-old’s vehicle flipped and violently crashed into a wall. He described the crash as “gnarly” and said it resulted in him breaking his back, ankle, four ribs and a hand.
“My thumb was dangling by the skin,” Muniz told People.
In comparison, his recent fall from the ladder was a bump in the road. As the actor-turned-racer recovers, he plans to come back to racing full-force — and probably follow the instructions on his ladder a little more closely.
“Note to self: heed the ladder warning that says, ‘Do not sit or stand on top step,’” Muniz wrote on social media. “In hindsight, a taller ladder would’ve been smarter. While I’m gutted to miss the races, I’m grateful it wasn’t worse.”
