Jeremy Clarkson's partner Lisa Hogan has said his decision to publicly share his prostate cancer diagnosis on Clarkson's Farm helped thousands of people, with Prostate Cancer UK receiving 30,000 website visits in a single day after the show aired.
The 66-year-old TV presenter revealed he had been diagnosed with 'aggressive' prostate cancer during the latest series of the Amazon Prime show, shocking viewers. Hogan, his partner of nine years, said Clarkson initially resisted being filmed in hospital but was eventually convinced by producer Andy Wilman.
Clarkson's initial reluctance to share diagnosis
Speaking to the Daily Star Sunday, Hogan said: “I’m really happy he caught his prostate cancer early and I’m really proud of him for putting it on the show, because that was a really big decision.”
She explained that Clarkson was hesitant at first. “When I was filming him in hospital at first, he said, ‘Please don’t’,” Hogan said. “It was (producer) Andy Wilman who convinced him to do it, to help everybody else.”
The impact of the decision was immediate. “When the show came out, Prostate Cancer UK had 30,000 people going on to their website in one day,” she added.
Support from friends and treatment details
Hogan also said she encouraged the former Top Gear host to talk openly with his friends about his condition. “I did encourage him to do was to talk to his friends. He didn’t want to initially, but he’s got lots of friends who’ve been through the same thing and he’s been talking to them about it. I think that’s really helped.”
Clarkson, who also fronts Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? on ITV, chose to undergo high-intensity focused ultrasound, a minimally invasive procedure that uses high-frequency soundwaves to heat and destroy targeted cancer cells. In June, he announced he was in remission.
