Richard Hammond and his wife Mindy have announced their split after 28 years together.
The Grand Tour and Top Gear star took to X to share a statement from the pair today (9 January), explaining they will ‘always be in each other’s lives’ and asked for privacy.
Richard and Amanda (‘Mindy’) married back in 2002 and share two daughters together, Izzy, 24, and Willow, 22.
“A little update from us; this Christmas we were together as a family and this year we will still be a family but just structured a bit differently,” the TV presenter and columnist couple wrote.
The couple have been together for 28 years. (Dave Benett/BAFTA/Getty Images for BAFTA)
“Our marriage is coming to end, but we’ve had an amazing 28 years together and two incredible daughters.
“We will always be in each other’s lives and are proud of the family we created.
“We won’t be commenting further and sincerely hope that our privacy and that of our children will be respected at this time. With Love, Richard and Mindy.”
The family live in an impressive mock castle out in Herefordshire and also have an apartment in London. It’s also rumoured that the TV host bought a large place in Oxfordshire.
Fans may remember the Hammonds adopted the official Top Gear dog back in the day, a labradoodle named TG, after it became clear it was afraid of cars.
The couple share two daughters. (David M. Benett/Dave Benett/Getty Images for Longines)
A source told The Sun of the split after nearly three decades: “Richard is very upset about all this. It seems he has tried hard to rekindle the relationship but to no avail.
“There is no speculation that any third party is involved.”
It has also been speculated that Mindy ‘demanded’ the split and ‘wanted him gone’. No reason however has been given by the couple for their separation.
After being on our screens for quite some time, Hammond’s long-running time as a trio with James May and Jeremy Clarkson came to an end last year.
The stars had spent 22 years working together across Top Gear and The Grand Tour before the Amazon Prime finale aired and they confirmed on their press tour that it was the end of their time on TV as we know it.
When asked if he would miss working on the show with his co-stars, Hammond said: “Yeah absolutely, but we wanted to end it at a time, place and in a manner of our choosing and that’s what we’ve done.”