Top Gear legend reveals tragic loss and talks of 'tremendous grief'
Richard Hammond, the star of The Grand Tour, has shared his 'tremendous grief' in a special episode of his podcast with his daughter Izzy. Alan Hammond, Richard's father, was a legal executive before turning to writing in recent years.
This heartbreaking news comes just weeks after Richard announced his separation from his wife of 28 years, Mindy. Speaking on Who Are We Now, Richard said: "I have to say quite early on that since we spoke to Professor Green – because that’s this week’s episode, but we recorded it a little while back – since then, we’ve lost my father, Izzy’s grandfather, he died."
The pair were discussing grief with psychiatrist Dr T for the extra episode. Reflecting on the impact of his father's death, Richard asked: "And so we are, probably, both of us, Iz, are undergoing change right now – is that changing us? " As Dr T guided them through their feelings, Richard noted: "For instance, I’ve noticed that since we lost my dad I don’t wander around daily in a cloud of… there was tremendous grief, of course there was, he was my dad, but it’s kind of in the background."
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“And when it hits me is when I’m pottering about doing something often inconsequential, or thinking about something big, my brain has already formed the thought, ‘oh, I must tell dad’ and I only sort of get… “You know when you’re turning a thought into language? So the thought is there, and then I form it into words so I can communicate to myself and to the world, and it gets as far as, ‘oh I must tell... oh,’ and it’s not a big crashing emotion, but it’s a definite sense, it’s a reminder, and that’s the brain doing what you just described.
Richard revealed his unexpected separation from his wife Mindy, 58, on January 9. The pair have two adult children together, Isabella - affectionately known as Izzy - and Willow. The announcement was made by Richard and Mindy on a shared social media account. The couple, who were together for 28 years and married for 23, stated: "A little update from us; this Christmas we were together as a family and this year we will still be a family but just structured a bit differently. Our marriage is coming to end, but we’ve had an amazing 28 years together and two incredible daughters.
"We will always be in each other’s lives and are proud of the family we created. We won’t be commenting further and sincerely hope that our privacy and that of our children will be respected at this time. With Love, Richard and Mindy. "
