Richard and Mindy Hammond may be splitting after 22 years of marriage, but Mindy was there for Richard when he went through the horror crash that nearly killed him back in 2006
Mindy Hammond admitted she got a "new and improved" husband after his near-fatal crash.
Richard Hammond announced on Thursday (January 9) that the former Top Gear presenter would be splitting from wife Mindy after 22 years of wedded bliss. It came after she stuck by him following a horror crash that nearly killed him in 2006, which has since left him with "lasting memory loss".
In 2006, Richard had been presenting the legendary BBC car show with Jeremy Clarkson and James May when he opted to perform one of his own stunts in one of the cars he was flaunting. However, whilst he had been driving the jet-car, the automobile malfunctioned, sending Richard into the air before crashing, leaving him severely injured on set.
It was later revealed that Richard had been driving the Vampire jet-car at a dizzying 288 miles per hour, which she admitted caused her immense trauma. Speaking one year on from the crash to the Daily Mail, she explained that even then, she found it hard to speak about, as she reflected on the events of the day.
"Richard had always taken ridiculous risks for the programme," she explained at the time, "so when he left that day saying, 'I'm off to drive a jet-car,' I thought, 'OK.' Because you can't think about it, you really can't – I mean he has done some dreadful things in his TV career."
Recalling the moment she heard about the crash, Mindy explained she had been horse riding when au pair Ella took a call from Andy Wilman, the producer from the show. He explained that Richard had had an accident but had been "moving his arms and legs", ordering Mindy to meet him in Leeds, hundreds of miles away from where she was in Gloucestershire.
"It was the longest drive of my life," she sobbed. "One of the worst moments was when I heard on Radio 2 that 'Richard Hammond has had a serious accident' – that the car had flipped and rolled - I didn't know that - that he was in a 'critical condition in intensive care' and that his wife was driving to be with him."
Richard had been put into a medically induced coma when Mindy arrived at the hospital, who stayed by his side throughout his journey to recovery over the next 15 months. She went on to say that she was happy to help him get back to his normal ways, and admitted that the crash gave Richard a whole new perspective on life.
"Immediately after the accident it was sometimes difficult because when people are recovering everything is magnified and he could be very emotional," Mindy explained. "But we were lucky in that everything mended well and actually quite a few times I have said to people, 'He is the same, only better.'"
"I don't know everything that happened to him when he peered over the other side, but he has come back," she added. "He is Richard as he was, only a new, improved version."
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