Richard Hammond’s daughter Izzy, 22, discusses how the Top Gear star’s 320mph horror crash ‘changed his brain’ during a rare TV appearance
Richard Hammond’s daughter Izzy revealed how the presenter’s horror crash at 320mph ‘changed his brain’ in a rare TV appearance.
The former Top Gear presenter, 54, was left in a coma for two weeks in 2006 after the car he was driving went out of control at Elvington Airport in York.
One of the dragsters’ tires blew and caused the crash, causing it to fall upside down and causing Richard to suffer serious head injuries.
He suffered a ‘frontal lobe haemorrhage’, which caused memory loss, depression and problems with emotional experiences after the accident.
When they talked about how Richard’s crash inspired their new father-daughter podcast, Who We Are Now, they then discussed his emotional state and mental health.
Richard Hammond’s daughter Izzy, 22, revealed how the presenter’s horror crash at 320mph ‘changed his brain’ in a rare TV appearance
The former Top Gear presenter almost died while filming a stunt in a Vampire jet car at York’s Elvington Airport in 2006, with the accident inspiring their new podcast, Who We Are Now
Richard began, “Because I had suffered a brain injury so publicly, I wanted to do the podcast and talk about it. I felt like I had permission to do that.”
Izzy added: “We talked about his brain for a long time because we had to keep an eye on how he was acting and feeling.
“We agree on a lot more than we disagree with on the podcast, so much of mental health is universal. Men and women should not be put in a box.’
“Every group must be in a good state for society to function,” the TV personality added.
Richard hosted Top Gear from 2002 to 2015 alongside Jeremy Clarkson and James May.
The trio then presented Amazon Prime Video’s 2016 The Grand Tour.
Recalling her childhood, Izzy said: “He was away quite a bit when I was younger. He was greatly benefited from the opportunities he had to take advantage of. Then when he came home, he would act like a fool.
“Because a lot of it was dangerous, my parents didn’t talk about it, whereas now that I’m older I understand what that work was.”
One of the dragsters’ tires blew and caused the crash, throwing it upside down and leaving Richard with serious head injuries (Richard’s 2006 crash scene pictured)
He suffered a ‘frontal lobe haemorrhage’, which caused memory loss, depression and problems with emotional experiences (pictured after being transferred by Yorkshire Air Ambulance)
Speaking about how Richard’s crash inspired their new father-daughter podcast, Who We Are Now, they then discussed his emotional state and mental health
Richard explained that he was never sure when his last job would be, so he spent a lot of time outdoors while working.
After his accident, Richard recovered and returned to the show in early 2007, but revealed in February this year that he fears he has memory loss as a result.
He said he is still suffering from the effects of his brain injury, caused by the extreme deceleration of speed that caused his brain to “slosh” forward, resulting in a “frontal lobe hemorrhage.”
In 2017, Hammond was involved in a second crash and was airlifted to a hospital in Switzerland while filming Amazon’s The Grand Tour.
The accident took place in the city of St. Gallen in northeastern Switzerland. Richard had to be pulled from the wreckage of a £2 million Rimac supercar, which later caught fire.