Jeremy Clarkson’s painful health battles from ‘days to live’ warning to secret surgery
Jeremy Clarkson is one of the UK’s most beloved TV presenters, but he’s had his fair share of health battles over the years – and he’s spoken candidly about his health issues
TV presenter Jeremy Clarkson, who turns 66 today (Saturday, April 11), is one of Britain’s most recognisable faces on television.
From his early triumphs with motoring programmes such as Top Gear and The Grand Tour to more recent ventures like Clarkson’s Farm, he remains a constant fixture on our screens.
Jeremy has also spoken openly about his health and his own mortality, keeping his devoted fanbase informed about the various medical issues he has faced over recent years.
This includes a sobering admission about the end of his life, a frightening health battle that left him with just “days to live”, and his fears surrounding dementia.
‘Days to live’
Jeremy was reportedly given “just days to live” following a terrifying health scare that saw him rushed into emergency heart surgery. The ordeal occurred while he was on holiday in the Seychelles in 2024, reports the Express.
He recalled feeling clammy, alongside other symptoms including a tightness in his chest and pins and needles in his left arm. He subsequently had two stents fitted to clear blockages in his heart’s arteries. Doctors reportedly warned him he would have died within days had he not received treatment.
The television star confessed he was unable to climb a flight of stairs “without holding someone’s hand”. Upon returning home from hospital, his reaction was simply: “Crikey, that was close.” Writing in the Sun at the time, he said: “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 fears
Jeremy has been troubled by ear problems for over a decade, but was deeply alarmed upon learning of a link between hearing loss and dementia.
A routine examination revealed he had “doubled the chance” of being diagnosed with dementia as a result of his hearing difficulties.
He wrote in the Times: “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.”
The NHS states that the risk of developing dementia nearly doubles in cases of untreated mild hearing loss.
Jeremy subsequently had a set of hearing aids fitted, which he hopes will help address the problem.
End-of-life admission
The former Top Gear star made a sobering end-of-life confession as he disclosed his funeral arrangements.
Jeremy quipped that he would leave “all my trousers” to ex-Top Gear co-presenter Richard Hammond, who stands almost a foot shorter than him.
The Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? host admitted he had been reflecting on post-life planning because ‘dying in this day and age is unbelievably complicated’. He said: “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 discharged himself from a luxury retreat he was enjoying with girlfriend Lisa Hogan in order to have a cyst quietly removed.
The 5cm cyst was located on the TV presenter’s back. The procedure was a success and the cyst proved to be benign.
Speaking to the Sun, he said: “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.
“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 fears
The TV personality gave up smoking nearly a decade ago but turned to nicotine chewing gum to curb his cravings. However, in 2023, doctors warned him that chewing the gum was causing his blood pressure to soar dramatically.
Jeremy told the Sun: “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.
“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.”