Richard Hammond is “too scared” to get checked for dementia following his horror crash.
Richard Hammond is scared horror crash could've left him with dementia
The former ‘Top Gear’ presenter, 53 – who fronted the BBC Two programme alongside Jeremy Clarkson and James May from 2002 to 2015 – suffered a brain injury following a catastrophic car crash while filming the show in 2006.
Richard - who was left with life-changing side effects, including post-traumatic amnesia - now fears his worsening memory could be dementia caused by the high-speed smash.
Speaking on the 'Diary of a CEO' podcast, he said: “I worry about my memory because it’s not brilliant. I can still read a script and deliver it but my long-term memory is not brilliant.
“I have to write things down and work hard to remember them sometimes. It might be the age, it might be the onset of something else. I worry about that. I do.”
The TV star admitted suffering from depression following the crash, and his wife Mindy, 57, was warned there could be an after-effect brain injury.
He added: “Mindy was told by the doctors that a frontal brain lobe injury would possibly lead to me having a greater propensity for obsessive compulsion and depression and paranoia.
“She was like, ‘You didn’t meet him before the crash, did you?’ which is quite funny.”
Richard's horror crash came while filming an episode of ‘Top Gear’ at the RAF Elvington airfield near York, in September 2006.
Richard was driving at 319mph in a Vampire dragster - a jet-powered car that has the potential to reach speeds of 370mph – when the front right tyre unexpectedly failed, causing the motor to spin out of control and flip upside. The media personality had to be cut out with hydraulic shears before being rushed to hospital.
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