Jeremy Clarkson was given a fresh health warning over smoking (Picture: Eleanor Hoad/Shutterstock)
Jeremy Clarkson has opened up on his lifelong smoking habit and how his GP warned him to ‘quit immediately’ over fears of an ‘agonising premature death.’
The former Top Gear presenter, 61, has previously spoken out about his health worries after turning 60, saying he ‘thinks about dying every day.’
Now, the broadcaster has opened up on a stark warning he received from his doctor over smoking throughout his adult years.
‘For most of my adult life, stern-faced doctors warned me that if I didn’t give up smoking, I would suffer from an agonising and premature death,’ he wrote in his column for The Sun on Friday.
He wrote that six years ago, he ‘bit the bullet’ and cut down on his ’40-a-day habit’ by using nicotine gum.
However, his doctor’s worries reared their head again as they gave the Diddly Squat Farm owner a fresh health warning.
He opened up on how his doctor said he could die an ‘agonising premature death’ if his habit continued (Picture: Jeff Spicer/Getty Images)
His doctor told him his continued use of nicotine had seen a ‘worrying rise’ in his blood pressure (Picture: Neil Mockford/Alex Huckle/GC Images)
‘This week a doctor said it’s causing a worrying rise in my blood pressure and that if I don’t pack it in soon, I will suffer from an agonising and premature death,’ he continued.
The star decided to ditch the cigarettes after being faced with a frightening health scare when he was struck by a bout of pneumonia while on holiday in Mallorca.
‘I’ve smoked nearly 630,000 fags over the past 43 years and, aside from the very first, there hasn’t been a single one that I didn’t enjoy,’ he said in his column for The Times.
‘But then, as you may have heard, I got pneumonia while I was on holiday, and I was told, by everyone, that I had to stop.’
Revealing how his health came into the spotlight following his diagnosis, Jeremy continued: ‘I had to run up some stairs, and afterwards the doctor was horrified.
Clarkson kicked his habit after a bout of pneumonia (Picture: Samir Hussein/WireImage)
‘I had 96% of the lung capacity you would expect in someone my age.’
In 2019, shortly after celebrating the anniversary of his last cigarette, he said he was ‘a lot fatter’ as a direct result of putting the lighter down.
Speaking at a screening for The Grand Tour, he joked about his perceived weight gain with Richard Hammond and James May.
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Asked about what’s changed since series two, Jeremy replied: ‘I’m a lot fatter. I gave up smoking.’
Turning to the audience, he asked: ‘Anyone here given up smoking? Anyone else get fat, like unbelievably fat, as a result of it? It’s just terrifying.’
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The former Top Gear host packed in the cigarettes in 2017.