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Jeremy Clarkson Opens Up on His Darkest Year

Jeremy Clarkson is known for his bravado and his car-related antics. What many people haven’t thought about or simply refuse to understand about the most prominent and hated man in the motoring industry is that the Jeremy Clarkson you see on the telly is nothing more than an act.
Jeremy Clarkson 1 photo
Photo: BBC.co.uk
In an interview with The Times, the 55-year-old British presenter told the publication that the man on BBC Top Gear is nothing but a mask. It’s understandable, to be quite honest. No one pays someone millions to be himself or herself. Jeremy supports his remark by admitting he likes bird watching, something I wouldn’t have expected from Captain Power. Ever.

When asked about the darkest year of his existence, Jeremy was pretty blunt, replying that he had lost his mother, his house when he divorced from Frances Cain, and his job when he punched a Top Gear producer called Oisin Tymon. Regarding the death of his mother, Shirley Clarkson, the inventor of the Paddington Bear, that happened in 2014.

More specifically, before the slope racial slur from the Burma Special. After that episode was aired and the media went crazy on the subject, Jeremy was pushed into a corner by the attention. He even fielded telephone calls from the BBC. For a guy who had just lost his mother at the same time he was doing a TV show, the Top Gear Live shows, and three newspaper columns per week, I can’t help but feel for the man.

Before the punch-up happened in 2015, Clarkson had received a positive diagnosis of cancer that turned out to be false. At this time, the British personality also had a drinking problem. Happily for him, Jeremy gave up drinking before he started negotiating his contract with Amazon.

I’m not trying to find any excuses for what Jeremy has done because punching a coworker is not excusable. What I’m trying to point out is that Clarkson is indeed human, not a power sliding buffoon that was born to please his TV audience. He is but a man who makes mistakes like all of us do.

You can read more on The Times (subscription required) to try to understand the man behind the mask.
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About the author: Mircea Panait
Mircea Panait profile photo

After a 1:43 scale model of a Ferrari 250 GTO sparked Mircea's interest for cars when he was a kid, an early internship at Top Gear sealed his career path. He's most interested in muscle cars and American trucks, but he takes a passing interest in quirky kei cars as well.
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