Richard Hammond has admitted he was ‘crappy as a father’ while his daughters were growing up.
The Top Gear star, 53, is father to Isabella ‘Izzy’, 22, and Willow, 20, with his wife Mindy who he married in 2002.
Speaking to The Sunday Times, Richard told how he struggled to accept some of the responsiblities of parenthood after Izzy was born.
He said: ‘It sounds ridiculous now given how lucky I’ve been with my job, but there were nights when I drove home from a shoot and parked round the corner until I knew bathtime was finished. I was pretty crappy as a father.’
Richard recalled how Mindy became pregnant with Izzy before they had got married and he was working as a freelance presenter for Granada TV.
Family: Richard Hammond has admitted he was ‘crappy as a father’ while his daughters were growing up (pictured with his wife Minday and daughters Izzy and Willow)
Candid: Richard told how he struggled to accept some of the responsiblities of fatherhood after Izzy was born (pictured in October 2023)
The couple didn’t have much money in their early days as parents and Richard said they still had financial difficulties after Willow was born.
Richard started working on Top Gear in 2002 and was constantly exhuasted during the first year from all the travelling and added that the pay wasn’t great then.
The presenter has met Izzy’s boyfriend and admitted he was worried a younger version of himself would show up at the door when they first mt.
He added: ‘I do trust her judgment and I’m aware that I won’t be the principal man in her life for ever. But for as long as I am, it’s great to be mates.’
Although he may have had his faults, Izzy insisted her father is more hands on now.
She said: ‘I have more appreciation for what Dad does now. He is very particular, he likes things his way. He can be stubborn. It’s hard to get around that and I’m the only one who can make him change his mind — sometimes. At least at home he is outnumbered by women three to one, otherwise God knows what he would be like.’
Elsewhere during the interview, Richard said both his daughters get on well with each other and being raised in the country helped to keep them out of the spotlight.
He also told Izzy may follow in his footsteps as she recently graduated from Bristol University and is interested in working in the media.
Richard said: ‘There were nights when I drove home from a shoot and parked round the corner until I knew bathtime was finished. I was pretty crappy as a father’ (pictured with Izzy)
Difficulties: Richard and Mindy didn’t have much money in their early days as parents and the presenter said they still had financial difficulties after Willow was born
It comes after Richard previously admitted Izzy was worried about her dad’s financial situation after he left Top Gear with co-stars Jeremy Clarkson and James May in 2015.
The TV presenter revealed Izzy humiliated him and James May in KFC when she joked they’d lost their £500k salary due to Jeremy.
Richard explained on the Fuelling Around podcast: ‘After we finished the show James had come over to stay with me for a few days. We’d gone to Kentucky Fried Chicken to get lunch for everyone with Izzy.
‘We got to the front of the queue, put our order in, and James typically said: ‘Oh, oh, I’ll pay Hammond’ and I said ‘no, no mate, I’ll pay’ and he said ‘no, no, no I’ll pay.’
‘And there was a pause, just when the whole restaurant had gone quiet, and Izzy said: ‘Well technically lads, I should pay as you haven’t got a job between you’. And the place detonated with laughter.’
He added: ‘She obviously then thought ‘this is the best game’. So subsequently, at the end of the queue in Morrisons, as I was waiting to pay she would say very loudly: ‘Daddy, daddy, so when does your credit card stop working?’ and I’d go ‘Oh, for God’s sake,’ and again a whole store of people were in hysterics.’
