Former Top Gear star Jeremy Clarkson opens up about life after heart surgery

Former Top Gear star Jeremy Clarkson has revealed a more vulnerable side of himself, making a surprising admission about his health and well-being.

The 64-year-old television host opened up about his life after heart surgery in his column for The Sunday Times, admitting he was doing “everything in (his) power not to die.”

Clarkson wrote that his life is “so wonderful” and admits he wants it to “go on for as long as is humanly possible”

In October 2024, the Clarkson’s Farm presenter had two stents fitted to improve blood flow during an emergency procedure.

In a previous article, Clarkson wrote he was rushed to hospital following a “sudden deterioration” in his well-being which included symptoms of “tightness” in his chest and “pin and needles” in his arm.

Clarkson’s worrying symptoms began while on holiday where he began to struggle after going for a swim and eventually needed assistance to climb a flight of stairs.

“Back at home, though, the sudden deterioration began to gather pace. I woke on Wednesday morning not feeling too good. I was clammy and there was a tightness in my chest.”

As his symptoms worsened Clarkson was rushed to hospital where, following a number of tests, a heart attack was ruled out. However, doctors did discover a blockage in one of his arteries leading to his heart and ordered a stent to be fitted.

“I certainly wasn’t having a heart attack. But if it hadn’t looked that way, I never would have been sent to hospital,” he said.

“The next morning I went home, and here I am, two hours later, writing this and sort of thinking, ‘Crikey, that was close’.”

It’s not the first time Clarkson has shared a health scare that saw him rushed to hospital.

In 2021, Clarkson revealed in grisly detail how he sliced off half his thumb and was taken to hospital following a horror kitchen mishap.

Clarkson recalled all the gruesome details in his column for The Sunday Times, with the incident occurring while he was making chilli chips “with much vigour” and ended up slicing off half his thumb on a mandolin slicer.

Despite her best intentions, Clarkson’s partner attempted to reattach the severed digit at the time.

He eventually went to hospital where he had the injury treated.

“The doc explained that I could lose the use of it, and since the opposable thumb is all that separates us from goats, I decided I’d better do as I was told,” he said.