‘IF WE CAN HELP ONE PERSON, THAT IS AMAZING’
Father and daughter Richard and Izzy Hammond on family, feelings and their new mental health podcast
Presenter Richard Hammond was a much-loved part of BBC motoring show Top Gear – alongside co-stars Jeremy Clarkson and James May. However, his world changed forever in 2006, when a near-fatal car crash while filming the show left him in a coma for two weeks and with a serious brain injury. The star suffered with bouts of severe depression after the incident and is now on a mission to help other men talk about their feelings.
As part of this, the 54-year-old has launched a new podcast Who We Are Now with his eldest daughter Izzy, 23.
The weekly podcast sees the duo discuss a variety of subjects all designed for men to open up – and to hopefully save lives.
Richard, who is also dad to Willow, 20, with wife and S columnist Mindy, 58, explains, “I’m a middle-aged man and I wanted to make something that’s about encouraging middle-aged men to talk about emotional stuff – things that we find a bit tricky.”
“I think it’s the idea of having two completely opposite perspectives, a 54-year-old man and a 23-year-old girl,” Izzy adds of their joint venture.
“Originally, we thought that there would be tension, but actually a lot of our opinions are really similar. Also, what we struggle with and what we find
nd hard and what we don’t like talking about and what we feel uncomfortable about is really similar.”
Here, Richard and Izzy give us an insight into their father/ daughter relationship, Izzy’s ambitions as a broadcaster and what it was like for her growing up with a famous parent…
Hi both! What is your father and daughter relationship like off-camera? Richard: We talk a lot. We’re close as a family. Mindy and I had a policy early on with both the girls (Izzy has a younger sister called
‘We had a policy that both girls could be themselves and share stuff’
Willow) that they could be themselves and share stuff. For that to happen, for them to be themselves with us, we had to be ourselves with them. So, neither Mindy nor I are in any way different with Izzy and Wills than we are with anybody else, simply the same person. Which is why Izzy will often refer to me to others as just “Rich”.
Izzy: But if I was addressing you, I would say, “Daddy.” Richard: Or if something has gone wrong! “Mummy, Daddy, please solve it!”
Richard, you were left brain injured after a serious crash on Top Gear in 2006. How much did that event inspire your new podcast?
Richard: One of the starting points for the podcast was because I was very publicly brain injured in an accident. I certainly feel no stigma attached to discussing my own emotional state or issues I’ve had because it was all out in the air, and I had to. Izzy lived through that experience. But I think from a listener’s point of view, what that means is if a bloke comes across this who knows me through Top
Gear or any of the quite blokey shows I’ve done, they might say, “Hey, he’s the little fella off that show, but he’s prepared to talk about these things.”
How much of a support has Izzy been to you with everything you have been through?
Richard: Massively. We are all so close as a family. It’s nice to have that absolute in your life that you know there’s somebody that absolutely will support you.
Izzy: I know my close friends have got my back because we would talk if I had a problem. But I think with men, sometimes there’s that little bit of a barrier. They might have the support around them, but it’s just not spoken about.
Looking back at Top Gear, you had some great memories on there, but you also had the terrible crash. Does part of you regret going on that show? Richard: I’m still massively grateful for the opportunity and all that came from it and through it. It was another significant thing on the list of significant things in my life, and you know, there’s an interconnectedness to all of those things because if I hadn’t made certain decisions, I wouldn’t have met Mindy. [To Izzy] There wouldn’t have been a you – so everything we do is to connect to this. The butterfly effect…
There has been another serious accident since yours – Freddie Flintoff’s crash while filming for
Top Gear in December 2022. How did you feel seeing that?
Richard: I didn’t involve myself in it. Of course, I was horrified and scared for him, and I wish him the best possible recovery. It’s a really awful thing to happen.
Have you reached out to him at all? Richard: I’d very much like to, but he’s on his own business of recovery. Having been down the path of recovery myself, I know that you just need to get on with it. But if the opportunity arises to talk to him, of course, I would.
It seems you have got to a really peaceful place with it all and want to channel that into this podcast? Richard: Positivity is, to an extent, a choice. Nothing has happened to you until you’ve reacted to it. Very shortly after the crash, I don’t remember much. But in the early stages,
‘I think with men, sometimes there’s that little bit of a barrier’
I remember sitting with Mindy – we’d escaped to a little cottage just to get away from the media. I remember sitting in front of the fire and saying to her, “Let’s make this a good thing.” We did that first by together writing a book [On The Edge] about it because we figured we share experiences that might be useful. We still get messages from people saying it was valuable. This is part of that
same journey.
Izzy, what’s it been like as his daughter seeing what your dad’s been through?
Izzy: It’s all I’ve ever known nd because he got the job pretty much as I was born. All I’ve ever known is him doing what he does and I think we’ve always seen what he does as just a job.
What was it like growing up with a famous dad?
Izzy: As I’m getting older, I have an awareness and also an interest in his world of work, so I get to have a really cool insight into what he did when he was going away for work. Because me and my sister just thought Daddy was going to work as every child does, and then getting older, and you are like, “Oh, that’s what you’re doing.”
Richard: All of your and Willow’s friends’ dads have “proper jobs” – mine was just messing about on television. Izzy: In primary school, I had to write down what my daddy does for work, and I was like, “I actually have no idea, but it’s work.”
Izzy, do you want to be a broadcaster?
‘The response is positive and often quite moving’
Izzy: I don’t know. It’s really nice to have the opportunity to explore lots of different things. But we’ve always said it’s what you do with those opportunities. So, if this is something you want, then you’ve got to work for it. You’ve got to put the graft in and then see what happens. But, at the moment, everything I do, I’m so lucky to get that opportunity, and I will put my everything into it.
Do you want to save lives with this podcast?
Richard: Yes, of course! When Mindy and I wrote that book and bearing in mind I was in a right state, we did say, “Wouldn’t it be wonderful if just one person reads this and it helps them.” And we still get messages from people saying it did!
Izzy: And that’s exactly our thought process with this. Even if that’s just making one person feel like they’re not alone, that in itself is amazing. And if we can do that, we’ll do it forever. Richard: The response we are seeing is overwhelmingly positive and often quite moving. That’s not to say it’s heavy and serious.
Izzy: Yeah, it doesn’t always have to be; it’s about being able to get all your mates in a room together to just say, “Look, I’m feeling a bit sad and that’s fine.”