TV presenter Jeremy Clarkson has been candid about his health battles, from emergency heart surgery where he was warned he had just days to live, to his dementia fears and funeral plans
Television personality Jeremy Clarkson marks his 66th birthday today (Saturday, April 11), remaining one of Britain’s most familiar faces on screen.
His career spans from the phenomenal success of motoring programmes such as Top Gear and The Grand Tour, through to more contemporary ventures including Clarkson’s Farm, ensuring his continued presence across our television schedules.
The presenter has been remarkably open regarding his own health and mortality, regularly updating his devoted following about various medical challenges he’s encountered in recent years.
These revelations include a sobering reflection on his own mortality, a frightening medical emergency that left him with mere “days to live”, and concerns surrounding dementia, reports the Express.
‘Days to live’
The broadcaster was allegedly given “just days to live” following a terrifying medical crisis that saw him rushed for emergency cardiac surgery. The incident occurred while Jeremy was holidaying in the Seychelles during 2024.
He recalled experiencing clamminess alongside additional warning signs, including chest tightness and pins and needles sensations in his left arm. Medical intervention involved fitting two stents to clear blocked arteries supplying his heart. Doctors reportedly cautioned that without immediate treatment, he faced death within days.
The television star confessed he was unable to climb a flight of stairs “without holding someone’s hand”. Upon returning home from hospital, his thought: “Crikey, that was close.” Writing in The Sun at the time, he reflected: “Now, thanks to all those tremendous people at the John Radcliffe [Hospital] in Oxford and all of their extraordinary machines, here I am wondering what water tastes like and if it’s possible to make celery interesting.”
Dementia concerns
Jeremy has battled ear problems for over a decade, but was left shaken upon learning of the link between hearing loss and dementia.
A standard medical examination revealed he had “doubled the chance” of receiving a dementia diagnosis as a result of his hearing difficulties.
In The Times, he explained: “My brain is having to use a huge amount of computing power trying to fill in the bits of speech it hasn’t been able to hear. Which is hard when it’s simultaneously trying to remember where I put my spectacles.”
According to the NHS, the likelihood of developing dementia nearly doubles for those with untreated mild hearing loss.
Jeremy subsequently received hearing aids, which he hopes will help address the problem.
Death arrangements
The former Top Gear presenter made a poignant revelation about his end-of-life plans, disclosing his funeral arrangements.
Jeremy quipped he would bequeath “all my trousers” to ex-Top Gear co-star Richard Hammond, who stands nearly a foot shorter than him.
The Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? host acknowledged he had been considering posthumous matters because ‘dying in this day and age is unbelievably complicated’. Reflecting on his mortality, he revealed: “Eventually, I had everything planned out. All 23 minutes of Supper’s Ready by Genesis would be played at my funeral.”
Secret cyst removed
Jeremy disclosed that he left a luxury health retreat, where he was staying with partner Lisa Hogan, to undergo an undisclosed procedure to remove a cyst.
The TV personality had a 5cm cyst on his back surgically removed. The operation proved successful, with the growth confirmed as non-cancerous.
In an interview with the Sun, he explained: “Lisa took me to a health farm and, well, it was so miserable there that I thought, ‘I’ve got to have this cyst taken out at some point, I may as well go now.”
He added: “I checked out of the whole place and checked into hospital, because it was more fun having an operation than eating juniper berries all day long. As I lay under the surgeon’s knife, I thought ‘this is preferable’.”
Premature death concerns
The broadcaster stopped smoking nearly a decade ago but relied on nicotine gum to manage his addiction. However, medical professionals warned him in 2023 that the gum was causing dangerously elevated blood pressure.
Speaking to the Sun, Jeremy stated: “For most of my adult life, stern-faced doctors warned me that if I didn’t give up smoking, I would suffer from an agonising and premature death.”
He continued: “So six years ago I bit the bullet and replaced my 40-a-day habit with sheet after sheet of full-strength nicotine gum.
“And this week a doctor said it’s causing a worrying rise in my blood pressure and that if I don’t pack it in soon, I will suffer from an agonising and premature death.”
