Richard Hammond shares grief at losing his dad
Richard Hammond has revealed his father Alan has passed away.
Richard Hammond's dad has passed away.
The 'Grand Tour' star - who split from wife Mindy last month after 23 years of marriage - spoke about his "tremendous grief" since losing his dad Alan in a new bonus episode of his and daughter Izzy's podcast 'Who Are We Now', in which they explored the topics of connection, loss and relationships with psyciatrist Dr. T.
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.
"And so we are, probably, both of us, Iz, are undergoing change right now – is that changing us?"
The 55-year-old broadcaster told how his grief is now "in the background" but he often receives a pang of loss when he remembers he can't speak to his dad any more.
He said: "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.
"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 and Mindy - who are also parents to Willow - announced their shock split in a joint statement a month ago.
They said: "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."
