TV Personality Undergoes Emergency Surgery: Jeremy Clarkson Details Sudden Illness

British TV presenter Jeremy Clarkson recently underwent emergency heart surgery, he announced on Sunday. The host of The Grand Tour and Clarkson’s Farm wrote about the procedure, in which a stent was inserted into a blocked artery, in his column for The Sunday Times, outlining the signs for which readers should be on the lookout.

Clarkson, 64, wrote that he started to feel ill recently while on a vacation to areas in the Indian Ocean. He said he felt he had to “take a moment to make sure my limbs were working properly” when he stood up, and he “struggled” to swim at all. He felt he couldn’t get down a set of stairs “without holding someone’s hand,” but he joked: “These problems all manifested themselves in one day, which made the rest of my holiday extremely relaxing because all I did was sit in a chair drinking wine and eating cheese.”

“Back at home, though, the sudden deterioration began to gather pace,” Clarkson went on. “I woke on Wednesday morning not feeling too good. I was clammy and there was a tightness in my chest.” Clarkson was conflicted about how serious this might be, writing: “I certainly wasn’t having a heart attack. But if it hadn’t looked that way, I never would have been sent to hospital.”

Clarkson was ultimately picked up by an ambulance and taken to John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford, England. Doctors determined that he was not experiencing cardiac arrest, and instead fitted him for a stent. A stent is a tiny tube that can be surgically inserted into a blood vessel or duct to clear blockages and keep passageways open. They can have various applications, but Clarkson seemed to be describing a coronary stent, which is intended to restore blood flow through a clogged artery.

“The next morning I went home, and here I am, two hours later, writing this and sort of thinking, ‘Crikey, that was close,’” Clarkson wrote.

Clarkson’s column is often controversial for his political and social commentary – notably in December of 2022 when he wrote that he wanted Meghan Markle to be “made to parade naked through the streets of every town in Britain while crows chant, ‘Shame!’ and throw lumps of excrement at her.” Considering his place in political discourse, comments on this more personal column are mixed. Still, many on social media wished him well and thanked him for the reminder to be mindful of their health.