Richard Hammond announced earlier this week that he has split up from his wife Mindy Hammond, with whom he has two children, after almost three decades together
TV presenter Richard Hammond “fought to save his marriage” for almost 18 months.
The former Top Gear host, 55, announced on Thursday afternoon that he has separated from his wife Amanda ‘Mindy’ Hammond, 59, after more than two decades together. Fans were told that their marriage, which began in 2002, is “coming to end” in a statement shared by Richard on social media.
It has since been reported that Richard had been sleeping in the converted barn of their Bollitree Castle estate in Herefordshire prior to their split. There’s also speculation that columnist Mindy initiated divorce proceedings.
Richard is now said to be living in rented accommodation a “short commute away” from the family home. It’s reported that the presenter “fought to save his marriage” for almost 18 months before “accepting it was over”.
A source told the Sun: “He tried everything. He hoped they could live separately at the same address under different roofs, but Mindy pushed for a full divorce.” The source then added: “He even whisked her away to the South of France to patch things up, but it just didn’t work.”
The former Grand Tour host Richard and Mindy had been in a relationship for almost three decades. The former couple, who got married in 2002, are parents to daughter Izzy Hammond, 23, and Willow Hammond, 21, together. They have faced challenges in their marriage, including after Richard was involved in a car crash whilst filming Top Gear in 2006. He experienced a brain injury as a result of it and ended up in a weeks-long coma in intensive care.
Reflecting on the experience years later, Richard suggested that Mindy had helped bring him out of the coma. He recalled having a “dream” that he was walking in the Lake District whilst in the coma and said in a video uploaded to YouTube in 2022 that he woke up around the same time that his wife had been “screaming” and saying “don’t you dare die” at his bedside in intensive care.
After more than two decades of marriage, Richard announced their separation in a statement from himself and Mindy on X, formerly known as Twitter, on Thursday. It read: “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.
The statement continued: “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.”
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