Jeremy Clarkson, 65, admits ‘it messed my heart up’ as he blames health woes on ’24-hour’ working day
Jeremy Clarkson, 65, has revealed that the intense demands of running a pub alongside his farming ventures took a serious toll on his health – as he reveals, “it messed with my heart.”
The former Top Gear host took over The Farmer’s Dog pub in Asthall, near Oxfordshire, during the summer.
In addition to managing the 14th-century pub – initially lacking gas, running water, and adequate electricity – he continued working on his Diddly Squat Farm in Chipping Norton, famously featured in Clarkson’s Farm on Prime Video.
While audiences have seen the highs and lows of Clarkson’s agricultural efforts, he says managing a pub has been even more challenging.
Speaking to The Sun’s TV magazine, he explained how balancing pub renovations with the farm’s harvest season meant working around the clock.
“I was working 20 hours, 24 hours sometimes – literally round the clock,” Clarkson said.
“I like hard work. If I don’t do something constructive in a day, I can’t really get to sleep that night. But that was silly, and it did actually mess my heart up.
“It’s very stressful running a pub, it’s more stressful than running a farm.”
His overexertion came to a head when he began experiencing symptoms mimicking a heart attack while on holiday.
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The symptoms intensified after returning home, with Clarkson struggling to climb stairs and feeling chest tightness, clamminess, and tingling in his left arm.
Doctors ruled out a heart attack but discovered one of his arteries was fully blocked, prompting emergency surgery and the fitting of a stent.
Since then, Clarkson has had to dramatically overhaul his lifestyle.
In a column for The Sun, he wrote: “Literally, I am not allowed to have fun any more.
“If I go to a party, I must stand in a corner, nursing some refreshing elderflower juice, before going home at about 9.30. That’s terrifying.”
By October, Clarkson reported he had to give up nearly all his favourite foods – “bacon, sausages, beef, lamb, pork, butter, chips, proper milk, Cadbury’s Fruit and Nut bars, and the interesting part of an egg.”
He later told Best magazine about his new routine: “My phone flashed up this morning, and it read, you are taking far fewer steps this week than last. It also said, you are eating far fewer sausages. I now eat celery, and I feel better for it.”
Last week, Clarkson made a worrying comment about his latest back problem in his column, and revealed it could impact the future of his Amazon Prime Video series, Clarkson’s Farm.
He said: “I’d do a sixth [season of Clarkson’s Farm] if there was a reason for doing it, like a bl**dy good story. But if, say, my back turns out to be cancerous then I wouldn’t.”
Clarkson’s Farm returns for its fourth season on Friday, May 23, with Clarkson continuing his chaotic efforts to manage Diddly Squat Farm and a the pub.
Viewers are set to meet 24-year-old newcomer Harriet Cowan, a farmhand who temporarily replaced Kaleb Cooper while he was away on a speaking tour.