Jeremy Clarkson’s former mistress has spoken of their relationship for the first time – saying he was the “love of my life”.
Phillipa Sage thought her romance with the ex-Top Gear host “would last forever” but said their break-up was one of the reasons she suffered a breakdown.
Phillipa – known to friends as Pip – worked on Top Gear, with Clarkson, James May, and Richard Hammond.
The pair were accused of having an affair in 2011 behind Clarkson’s wife Frances’ back. When news of married Clarkson’s relationship with her broke, she says her colleagues were not fussed although they did ask if they should call her the First Lady from now on.
“It just meant that I got to travel in first-class as The Maharaja’s companion,” she says. Their relationship lasted until January 2017 when they split up.
The break-up was shortly before her father had a fall. There had been turmoil work-wise as well, with Clarkson having been dropped from Top Gear for punching his producer, in 2015, before a highly-publicized switch to Amazon.
She told Hertfordshire Life: “We were all burned out and the stress of it all caused my worst breakdown ever. Truly the lowest point in my life. But it was to prove the glorious turning point.”
She added: “Jeremy was the love of my life and I thought it would be forever .”
Clarkson was accused of having an affair with events organizer Phillipa while touring Australia, South Africa, and Norway He was also seen kissing her while on holiday with her in Greece.
In 2010, Clarkson wrote a newspaper column about test driving a Maserati in New Zealand, with Phillipa in the back seat. The headline read: “Lie back, leggy Phillipa, while I have some fun.”
He has also likened her to a racehorse, joking she is “so tall she’s actually measured in hands”.
At the time Clarkson was married to Army officer’s daughter Frances, after tying the knot in 1993. She was his manager. They reportedly got divorced in 2014.
He was previously married to Alex Hall in 1989 but their union lasted just six months.
Miss Hall has previously said of Phillipa: “When I first saw the pictures, I knew that he had fallen in love with her. I think he will be happy with her.
He’s a serial monogamist, I don’t think he’s a fly–by–night philanderer.”
Phillipa had previously denied having an affair with Clarkson, dismissing reports that they were romantically involved as “nonsense”.
And she insisted: “Jeremy and I are friends, I have worked with him, er them (the Top Gear team) for years.”
But when told she had been seen entering Clarkson’s hotel suite in the early hours, she said: “What? I often stay in colleagues’ hotel rooms – that’s not unusual.
“I have been pictured with Jeremy several times, dozens of times while working on the show. We are just friends.”