Richard Hammond’s daughter Izzy revealed how the presenter’s 320mph horror crash ‘changed his brain’ during a rare TV appearance.
The former Top Gear host, 54, was left in a coma for two weeks in 2006 after the car he was driving spun out of control at York’s Elvington airfield.
One of the dragsters tyres blew causing the crash, flipping it upside down and leaving Richard with serious head injuries.
He suffered with a ‘frontal lobe bleed’, causing memory loss, depression and difficulties with emotional experiences following the accident.
Speaking about how Richard’s crash inspired their new father-daughter podcast, Who We Are Now, they discussed his emotional state and mental health afterwards.
Richard Hammond’s daughter Izzy, 22, revealed how the presenter’s 320mph horror crash ‘changed his brain’ during a rare TV appearance
The former Top Gear host almost died filming a stunt in a Vampire jet car at York’s Elvington airfield in 2006 with the accident inspiring their new podcast, Who We Are Now
Richard began: ‘Because I was so publicly brain injured I wanted to do the podcast and address it. I felt like I had permission to do so.’
Izzy added: ‘We spent a long time talking about his brain because we have had to keep an eye on how he’s behaving 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 shouldn’t be pigeon holed.’
‘Every group needs to be in a good state for society to work,’ the TV personality added.
Richard hosted Top Gear from 2002 until 2015 alongside Jeremy Clarkson and James May.
The trio then moved on to present Amazon Prime Video’s The Grand Tour from 2016.
Recalling her childhood Izzy said: ‘He was away quite a bit when I was younger. There was a lot of him taking opportunities which he had to do. Then when he was home he would act the fool.
‘Because a lot of it was dangerous my parents didn’t talk about it whereas now I’m older I understand what that work was.’
One of the dragsters tyres blew causing the crash, flipping it upside down and leaving Richard with serious head injuries (Richard’s 2006 crash scene pictured)
He suffered with a ‘frontal lobe bleed’, causing memory loss, depression and difficulties with emotional experience (pictured being transferred by Yorkshire Air Ambulance afterwards)
Speaking about how Richard’s crash inspired their new father-daughter podcast, Who We Are Now, they discussed his emotional state and mental health afterwards
Richard explained how he was never sure when his last job would be so spent a lot of time away from home 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 the after effects of his brain injuries caused by the extreme deceleration in speed that made his brain ‘slosh’ forward resulting in a ‘frontal lobe bleed’.
In 2017, Hammond was involved in a second crash and was airlifted to hospital in Switzerland while filming Amazon’s The Grand Tour.
The accident took place in the town of St Gallen in north-east Switzerland. Richard had to be pulled from the wreckage of a Rimac supercar worth £2m that later burst into flames.
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