'Took a bit of a battering': How Jeremy Clarkson overhauled his life after cancer diagnosis

Jeremy Clarkson is now in remission for cancer, but the former Top Gear host has made plenty of changes to his life since the diagnosis.

Opening up about his second brush with death – undergoing emergency surgery on his heart 12 months before the cancer news – the 66-year-old Clarkson’s Farm star admitted he counts his blessings every day.

“I really like seeing my grandchildren. I want to watch them grow up. I drive much more slowly. I’m a bit of a dawdler. I go for walks a lot. I have vegetarian food,” he told The Sunday Times. 

Clarkson first shared the diagnosis in an episode of Season 5 of Clarkson’s Farm, but in the months since he’s confirmed he’s in remission and life has almost returned to normal. 

“I took a bit of a battering having cancer last year on top of heart problems. Yeah, but the stents mended me, the HIFU mended me, and here I am,” he told the outlet. 

The beloved TV personality joked that during a recent meal at Simpsons in London, he opted for a vegetarian starter and “it was stunning” - one of the changes he’s made to his diet. 

Clarkson said he is also avoiding processed foods. 

Read more

Jono Fren on life with baby Theodore – as the rest of the family lifts the lid on the new Travel Guides cast

Elsewhere in the interview he opened up about the decision to make his diagnosis public on Clarkson’s Farm.

During the finale episode of the season he told farm manager Kaleb Cooper and agricultural consultant Charlie Ireland, “I’ve got cancer.”

The TV personality admitted he was “truly hoping” he could just get the harvest done and quickly go for the operation, because he wouldn’t have had to share the news.

He explained the “Clarkson mentality” is you’re not allowed to be sick, let alone talk about it if you are.

“And I was praying I could do that. But then that wasn’t possible [because the date of the operation was right in the middle of the harvest],” he explained.

Clarkson said he wrestled with the decision to talk about the cancer for a long time because he couldn’t just disappear from the show.

“So I decided I’m going to have to come clean, I’m going to have to break the Clarkson policy of being an illness bore and admit to it, and as a result I’m now sitting down with you talking about it, which goes against the grain,” he said.

Clarkson has continued to be vocal about not only the diagnosis, but urging men to get tested, even if the thought does feel uncomfortable.

In the days since the news of his cancer, and news of his remission, he has stressed that getting checked and catching it early has been crucial in where he is now.

“The more observant among you will have noticed that I’m not dead. And I’m not just not dead, I’m perfectly fine,” he joked in a post on Instagram.

“The reason why I’m fine is because the doctors caught the prostate cancer early. And they caught it early because I got tested.”

The host also recently shared some more good news for fans of the show, revealing that Clarkson’s Farm will be returning for Season 6 and is currently in production.