Update!

Morgan Freeman Released From Hospital

Actor discharged just four days after his car-flipping crash; expected to wear neck brace for at least six months

By Gina Serpe Aug 07, 2008 7:25 PMTags
Morgan FreemanJason Kempin/Getty Images

Morgan Freeman is a free man once again.

The 71-year-old Oscar winner has been released from Memphis' Regional Medical Center, just four days after his car-flipping crash and three days after undergoing four-and-a-half-hour surgery for his injuries, hospital spokeswoman Kathy Stringer confirmed.

"I left the hospital today just after 12 noon, Memphis time," Freeman said in a statment to E! News. "I'm doing very well. I feel really good.

"I just really, I 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."

The Dark Knight star, who was said to be "doing well" and "in good spirits" while recovering earlier this week, will likely have to wear a neck brace for the next six to eight months, according to Freeman's attorney, business partner and ad hoc spokesman of recent days, Bill Luckett.

"The doctors have said it will be six months to a year before he plays golf again," Luckett quipped to USA Today. "He hates that."

Luckett also cleared the air on reports that Freeman had severed a nerve in his arm.

Although the actor's publicist, Donna Lee, announced on Tuesday that Freeman had undergone surgery "to reconnect nerves and to repair damage to his left arm and hand," Luckett insisted that "nothing was severed."

"A nerve can be bruised or stretched. It was injured but not severed."

Freeman's exit is a bit of good news for the actor in an otherwise rough stretch.

Earlier today, Luckett confirmed that Freeman and his wife of 24 years, Myrna Colley-Lee, were planning to divorce and have been quietly separated since December 2007.

(Originally published on Aug. 7, 2008 at 11:35 a.m. PT)