Jeremy Clarkson has built much of his public image on excess, blunt opinions and a deep suspicion of modern health culture. But after a serious heart scare in 2024, the former Top Gear presenter appears to have entered a very different chapter.
The 66-year-old, once known for heavy smoking, big meals and a relaxed attitude to drinking, has recently been seen making choices that would once have seemed unthinkable. In a social media video with Clarkson’s Farm co-star Kaleb Cooper, Clarkson is shown eating a bunless burger wrapped in lettuce while drinking alcohol-free Hawkstone beer.
It was a small moment, but it pointed to a much larger change. Clarkson has reportedly reduced his drinking, swapped some old food habits for lighter meals, and even taken up pilates. He has also hosted a pickleball tournament at his Oxfordshire estate, where he lives and works around Diddly Squat Farm.
For longtime viewers, the change is striking. Clarkson was once famous for mocking exercise, clean eating and gym culture. He gave up smoking in 2017 after years of a 40-a-day habit, but his broader lifestyle remained closely associated with rich food, alcohol and a refusal to follow wellness trends.
That attitude shifted after doctors told him in 2024 that he had been close to a major heart attack. Clarkson later wrote that he first realised something was wrong while on holiday, when a simple attempt to dive from a boat left him struggling. A further moment of concern appears in the new series of Clarkson’s Farm, when he becomes breathless while trying to cut down a Christmas tree.
Since then, he has taken his health more seriously. Friends say the farm itself has helped, with fresh produce, vegetable patches and a polytunnel where Clarkson and his partner Lisa Hogan grow strawberries. His diet has reportedly become more controlled, with smaller portions and fewer snacks.
Clarkson has also used GLP-1 medication as part of his weight-loss efforts. He first tried Ozempic but said it made him feel extremely unwell. He later moved to Mounjaro, which he has jokingly referred to as Muntjac, and now reportedly uses it in smaller doses.
The medication has changed how he eats. According to one friend, Clarkson still enjoys normal food, but in far smaller quantities. Instead of several slices of roast beef, he may have two. Roast potatoes, Yorkshire puddings and crisps no longer hold the same appeal they once did.
Clarkson has also admitted that the process is not always enjoyable. He has joked about losing weight so quickly that airport security scanners become awkward when he has to remove his belt. He has also described the experience of eating tiny portions as more like existing than living.
This is not Clarkson’s first attempt to improve his health. In 2019, after gaining weight following his decision to quit smoking, he said he was trying to slim down and reduce his drinking. But this latest change appears more serious, and more personal.
Those close to him believe his grandchildren are a major reason. Clarkson is now a grandfather to Arlo and Xanthe, the children of his daughter Emily. Friends say he is deeply attached to them and wants to remain healthy enough to enjoy family life for as long as possible.
For a man who made a career out of resisting restraint, the new Clarkson is still recognisably himself: sarcastic, impatient and quick to mock the language of wellness. But behind the jokes, the shift is clear. The presenter who once dismissed health advice now seems to be following it, not because it is fashionable, but because he has been given a powerful reason to change.
On Clarkson’s Farm, that transformation may become one of the most revealing storylines yet. The show has often been about farming, failure and the chaos of rural life. Now, it may also show Jeremy Clarkson learning that some battles cannot be won with stubbornness alone.
