Richard Hammond and his wife Mindy Hammond announced their split
Three years ago, released an emotional video while walking in the Lake District. The dad-of-two told how in his dream he was walking among the hills overlooking Buttermere and sensed he was in trouble.
The former star, 55, recalled the vivid dream he had while in a coma after his near-fatal crash in 2006 and said it was the loud screams of his wife Mindy Hammond that pulled him back.
It was in that moment, Mindy, who was at his bedside, was told he might not wake up and began shouting. His distraught wife revealed she went to the toilet and “absolutely sobbed”.
The S Magazine columnist spoke of the “harrowing, horrible time” as he laid motionless in his hospital bed.
Addressing Richard’s candid 2022 video, she told the Sunday Express: “I knew he had been up there to do some filming, but he didn’t tell me he had done that (video).”
Richard Hammond was in a coma following a near-fatal crash in 2006
She continued: “It was our daughter Izzy who saw it and told me about it. He probably forgot to tell me because he does that a lot! Immediately when he started talking I knew what was coming.”
“It was a harrowing, horrible time,” Mindy explained. “The nurse had tried all these observations by prodding him and she was clearly getting nothing. And I remember saying to her ‘It’s bad, isn’t it?’ Because obviously things were going in the wrong direction, she started shouting ‘Richard, Richard’ at him. I said ‘Can I shout at him too?’
“I got really close to his face and shouted: ‘Richard, Richard, squeeze those bloody fingers. You’ve got to come back’. You are hysterical because you just know if you don’t get a response, the slide is starting. I was swearing at him. You would do anything.”
She revealed he opened his eyes by a fraction but gave her a blank stare – Richard did not immediately remember that Mindy was his wife.
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She recalled: “I went to the loo and absolutely sobbed because I thought ‘Where are you?’ I thought I actually don’t know what the outcome of this is going to be. I now know people come back from brain injury and look at their life and say ‘I don’t want this’. And look at their wife and think ‘I don’t want her either’! You just don’t know what you will get. I thought, ‘Is he ever going to know who I am’. That was hard.
“There was a funny moment though where he said ‘Oh you’re lovely but you are going to have to go because my wife is coming in a minute. You are lovely, but you’re not my wife. My wife is French!’”
But as his body and brain slowly recovered from the trauma, Mindy said their romance was rekindled and they fell in love all over again.
During a Top Gear segment filmed 14 years ago, Richard was injured in a crash but, fortunately, he made a full recovery.
It has since been announced that the couple has called time on their 28 year marriage.
In a statement released today, (January 9) Richard shared: “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.”