RICHARD Hammond has revealed his dad has passed away.
The Grand Tour star, 55, shared his ‘tremendous grief’ as he appeared in a bonus episode of his podcast alongside daughter Izzy.
Alan Hammond was a legal executive before becoming an author in recent years.
The sad news comes just weeks after Richard announced his split from his wife of 28 years – Mindy.
Speaking on Who Are We Now, Richard explained: “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.”
The pair were talking to psychiatrist Dr T about grief for the extra episode.
Discussing the impact of losing his dad Alan, Richard questioned: “And so we are, probably, both of us, Iz, are undergoing change right now – is that changing us?”
Dr T talked the pair through what they were experiencing and Richard replied: “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 announced his shock split from wife Mindy, 58, on January 9.
The couple have two grown up children together, Isabella – aka Izzy – and Willow.
Newspaper columnist Mindy is believed to have ‘demanded’ the divorce, with a source claiming “she wanted him gone”.
[bc_video account_id=”5067014667001″ application_id=”” aspect_ratio=”16:9″ autoplay=”” caption=”Richard Hammond’s daughter brands dad an ‘idiot’ and says he was ‘never really there’ amid his marriage split” embed=”in-page” experience_id=”” height=”100%” language_detection=”” max_height=”360px” max_width=”640px” min_width=”0px” mute=”” padding_top=”56%” picture_in_picture=”” player_id=”default” playlist_id=”” playsinline=”” sizing=”responsive” video_id=”6366953592112″ video_ids=”” width=”640px”]The news was shared by Richard and Mindy on an X account they share.
The couple, who were together for 28 years and married for 23, 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.”
It is believed Mindy is asking to keep their £7million Bollitree Castle estate, located in Herefordshire, as they draw up divorce settlements.