Richard Hammond’s wife, Amanda ‘Mindy’ Hammond, is reportedly seeking to retain the family’s impressive £7million Bollitree Castle amidst their divorce proceedings.
The 55-year-old former Top Gear presenter and his spouse, aged 59, recently announced their separation after a 28-year marriage.
Sharing the news via Twitter on January 9, the pair wrote: “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.”
They continued: “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 Grade II listed estate includes features like a swimming pool and spans across six acres, reports the Mirror.
Now, according to reports in the Sun, Mindy wants to hold on to the Herefordshire property – which they bought in 2008 – during their divorce discussions.
A source disclosed that Hammond is deeply saddened by these developments, stating he has attempted to salvage the marriage but things haven’t improved.
Previously, in a chat with The Times, Richard described his home saying: “It’s not grand and it isn’t really a castle. It’s just a house, with some bits of castle nailed to it. It’s not a particularly massive house.”
This comes after claims that Richard was residing in the converted barn of their £7million castle estate. The love story of the couple began in the 90s when The Grand Tour star confessed he fell for Mindy ‘in an instant’.
They met in 1995 while working for the same PR firm based in London. “In an instant, I fell in love with her and realised I had met my soul-mate and best friend for life,” Richard expressed in his 2007 memoir On the Edge: My Story.
The couple got hitched in 2002 and have two children, Isabella, 24, and Willow, 22. They’ve weathered many storms together including Richard’s terrifying crash in 2006 during Top Gear filming.
The accident resulted in a two-week coma and life-threatening injuries for the star. Upon waking from the coma, Richard couldn’t recognise Mindy.
“It was disconcerting when, early after the crash, Richard looked at me from his hospital bed and said, ‘You’re lovely, but you’re not my wife’,” she shared with the Telegraph. “When I corrected him, he responded, ‘No, you’re not my wife, my wife is French’. Indeed, when he was allowed home five weeks later, it became clear that Richard’s memory loss was no short-term affliction.”
Richard Hammond’s representatives have been contacted for comment.
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