WHEN Richard Hammond’s life hung in the balance after he crashed at 175mph, his wife Mindy helped save him.
Not only was the former Top Gear star credited with bringing him back to consciousness by shouting at him as he lay in a coma, but she also spent years helping him recover from a life-changing head injury.
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Richard Hammond and his wife Mindy have announced their shock split after 28 years together Credit: PA: Press Association
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A couple with their children Izzy and Willow in 2008. Credit: Getty
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Scenes from the near-fatal jet crash in 2006. Credit: BBC
But now, three decades after ‘The Hamster’ fell in love with Mindy at “first sight”, the couple have split.
Mindy and Richard’s marriage was one of the longest in show business and was considered one of the strongest.
But the 55-year-old TV presenter has admitted in the past that he was sometimes a “bad father” because he was away and worked a lot.
And Mindy, 59, perhaps not jokingly, warned him that he would be out if he suffered a third horror blow.
Meanwhile, Richard admitted a little over a year ago that he was going through a “mid-life crisis”.
Hammond announced the end of his marriage today in a “little update” on social network X.
He told fans: “This Christmas we were together as a family, and this year we will still be a family, just structured a little differently.
“Our marriage is coming to an end, but we’ve had an amazing 28 years together and two amazing daughters.
“We will always be in each other’s lives and we are proud of the family we have created.”
Journalist Mindy met him when they both worked at a public relations firm in 1995.
Richard Hammond announces that he is separating from his wife Mindy after 28 years of marriage
He took the job after barely making ends meet as a radio host.
In his autobiography On The Edge: My Story, which he co-wrote with Mindy, he revealed that he fell in love with her immediately.
He wrote: “I instantly fell in love with her and realized that I had met my soulmate and best friend for life.”
Their first daughter Izzy, 23, was born before they married in 2002, the year Richard landed a job on Top Gear alongside James May and Jeremy Clarkson.
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Richard admitted he was a ‘crap father’ at times Credit: Rex
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Hammond, Jeremy Clarkson and James May turned Top Gear into a global phenomenon Credit: Handout
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Richard credited Mindy with bringing him out of his coma Credit: Getty
He was not famous at the time and had to put in the hours to make the show a big hit for the BBC.
He was so tired when he returned from a long shoot that he could not face his parental duties.
Richard recently revealed to The Sunday Times: “It sounds funny now considering how lucky I’ve been with my job, but there were nights when I’d drive home from a shoot and park around the corner until I knew it was bath time.
“I was pretty c****d as a father.”
Smash on the edge of death
His dedication to entertainment went too far in 2006, when his jet-powered dragster crashed at 400km/h during the final filming run for Top Gear.
A tire burst, the car tipped onto its side, and Richard suffered a serious brain injury.
He was transferred by helicopter to the hospital, where it was examined whether the unconscious daredevil would survive.
Mindy asked the nurse “can I yell at him?” and she was told she could do anything.
His wife recalled: “And I did, I shouted at him. The way he remembers it is that he took the nice easy route – he knew he shouldn’t, but he did it anyway.
“And then he thought ‘Mindy’s cross’ so he made an effort and came back.”
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Richard was airlifted to hospital after crashing the jet carCredit: PA: Press Association
When the father of two children came out of coma, he did not recognize his wife and it took him a long time to remember.
Due to Mindy’s brain injury, the doctors warned ‘You will have to watch out for anger, but also tendencies towards compulsive behavior, paranoia or obsession’.
But Richard joked; “My wife says I was at my best when I was suffering from post-traumatic amnesia.”
He couldn’t remember reading the newspaper or what he asked for to eat.
Despite being told he would have to spend the next 15 months in hospital, he was back on Top Gear in three months.
Second fall
The marriage seems to have remained strong after the accident.
In interviews, Richard often spoke of his admiration for his wife.
He has since said: “She’s strong, smart, beautiful, resilient, funny, everything. I love her to bits” and “she’s the reason I didn’t go off the rails and get completely lost. Meeting her was the happiest day of my life.”
However, she was unimpressed when Richard had another near-fatal accident in 2017 while racing a concept car for Amazon’s TV show The Grand Tour.
After crossing the finish line in Switzerland, Richard lost control and the car ended up upside down, and he thought, “I’m going to die.”
Richard Hammond’s career through the decades
By Summer Raemason
Richard was born in Birmingham in 1970 and studied photography as well as television production.
He began his career in broadcasting at BBC Radio York.
This landed him another role at BBC Radio Cumbria, Leeds and Lancashire, before leaving in 1995 to follow his passion for cars.
He had always dreamed of hosting motoring TV shows, but after leaving the BBC he initially worked in PR.
He has been involved in corporate events for clients including the Ferrari Owners Club and Renault Sport.
In 1998, he got his debut job on TV motoring, hosting Motorweek on the Men & Motors satellite channel.
This opened up many more avenues for him on screen and he eventually found his way to presenting Top Gear in 2002.
At its peak, the domestic show gathered up to six million viewers.
While filming Top Gear, Richard crashed in a jet engine traveling at over 300 mph.
The father of two children is one of the few people who survived such a horror accident.
Hammond also hosted science and nature programs including Should I Worry About? on BBC One.
Other TV projects for the BBC included fronting Battle of the Geeks, Time Commanders and team captain at Petrol Heads.
He also presented ITV’s eponymous Richard Hammond’s Five O’Clock Show and Sky One’s Brainiac.
Luckily it wasn’t as serious as the previous stroke and on the way to the hospital he asked to call Mindy to reassure her.
Richard said: “My worst experience was calling my wife Mindy as I was being strapped to a stretcher board next to an air ambulance and a burning supercar at the foot of a Swiss mountain.
“I said ‘Mindy, I’m really sorry, but I did it again. Please don’t worry. My head is not damaged. I’m all good – just a few broken parts to fix.’ It was pretty dark.”
‘Third strike and you’re out’
After that he agreed to take less risks, knowing that another strike would be “disrespectful”.
Mindy joked to him that it was a case of “strike three and you’re out.”
In 2018, a couple believe burglars suffocated them with gas while they slept in a holiday home in Saint-Tropez on the French Riviera
The guests, including their other daughter Willow, 20, had their watches stolen.
Richard said: “They never caught the guys who did it. It happened to a lot of people.”
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The trio then hosted The Grand TourCredit: Amazon MGM Studios
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Richard and Mindy and their daughter Izzy on their wedding day in 2002
The couple will have to decide who gets to keep the £7million home at Bollitree Castle in Herefordshire they share, a huge car collection and a host of animals.
They bought the fake castle with six bedrooms, which has a swimming pool and 20 hectares of land, in 2008.
In the past, they had four cats, eight horses, two goats and a flock of sheep.
Richard ended his message about their breakup by saying: “We will not be commenting further and sincerely hope that our privacy and the privacy of our children will be respected at this time.”
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Source: HIS Education