James May: Personal Life, Health, Relationships, and Net Worth

Six rows, one pattern: the public biography is on the record, while money is the only number that refuses to sit still.

Does James May have a partner?

Yes — and the relationship is one of the most stable facts in his biography. Since 2000, May has been with Sarah Frater, an art critic and writer. The two are not married and have no children (NationalWorld (UK news site)).

Who is James May’s partner?

• Sarah Frater is an art critic and writer who has kept a deliberately low profile.
• She and May met before Top Gear made him famous, but they rarely discuss the relationship in interviews.

Is James May married?

• No. Multiple profiles describe May and Frater as unmarried partners rather than spouses.
• The couple has not held a public ceremony or issued any wedding announcement.

Does James May have children?

• No. NationalWorld’s profile lists May and Frater as a childless couple.

The pattern: May has kept a 25-year relationship out of the tabloid cycle — a rare result for a presenter whose professional life is played out in front of cameras.

Does James May have a medical condition?

The health question follows May around because of one visible detail: heterochromia. His irises are different colours. That is a cosmetic quirk, not an illness.

What medical conditions does James May have?

• Heterochromia is a difference in eye colour; in May’s case, it is typically described as a visual feature rather than a health problem.
• He has also mentioned a minor neurological tic in interviews, though it has never been described as a serious or disabling condition.

The takeaway: there is no evidence that May lives with a serious illness, just two details that sounded interesting enough to copy-paste across the internet.

Is Jeremy Clarkson still friends with James May?

The short answer is yes. When the BBC dismissed Clarkson in 2015, May left Top Gear too (Top Gear Wiki (fan wiki)). The trio then moved to Amazon, where the partnership continued.

History of their friendship

• May, Clarkson and Hammond became the core of the revived Top Gear after May joined in 2003.
• They presented together from 2003 until Clarkson’s exit in 2015.

Do they still work together?

• They co-presented The Grand Tour from 2016 to 2024.
• In interviews, the trio describe the working relationship as a genuine friendship rather than a purely commercial arrangement.

The implication: their friendship is also their business model. As long as they keep making programmes together, the “are they still friends?” question answers itself.

For another former Top Gear presenter’s story, see our Freddie Flintoff profile.

Are Sir Brian May and James May related?

No. The shared surname is a coincidence. James May grew up in Bristol; Brian May grew up in London and found fame as Queen’s guitarist. There is no documented family link.

Is there any familial connection between James May and Brian May?

• James May is a television presenter and journalist, not a musician.
• Brian May is a guitarist and astrophysicist, not a television presenter.
• May has publicly dismissed the idea that the two are related.

The takeaway: same surname, different family trees.

Is James May metrosexual?

The label has been attached to May for years because of his groomed hair and tailored clothing, but he has never fully adopted it.

What does metrosexual mean?

• The term was coined in the 1990s to describe a straight, urban man with a strong interest in fashion, grooming and lifestyle.
• It was a media invention more than a medical or social-science category.

Does James May identify as metrosexual?

• May has expressed ambivalence about the label in interviews.
• He seems comfortable with the clothes, less comfortable with the box the media put him in.

The pattern: he is happy to be known as a man who cares about how he looks; he is less keen on being filed under a 1990s buzzword.

What is James May’s net worth?

The honest answer: nobody outside his accountants knows. Published estimates vary wildly; one widely shared figure is $40 million (Briefly News (South African news site)), while another puts it at $10 million (CelebList (celebrity database)).

How did James May earn his money?

• His main income came from co-presenting Top Gear and The Grand Tour.
• He has also written books, presented travel and cooking programmes, and written a newspaper column.
• None of those income streams are formally disclosed, which is why the estimates diverge.

What is his salary per episode?

• No reliable per-episode figure has been published.
• Reports about presenter salaries typically mix fees with production budgets, making exact numbers impossible to verify.

Why this matters: the gap between $10 million and $40 million is not a rounding error; it is the difference between a comfortable career and a very different financial league.

What we know and what we don’t

The analysis: the confirmed facts are concise and durable; the unknowns — particularly net worth and self-identification — are the friction that keeps the public narrative from resolving into a perfect picture.

In their own words

James May is best known for co-presenting Top Gear with Jeremy Clarkson and Richard Hammond.

— Wikipedia

May presented the revived Top Gear from 2003 to 2015.

— NationalWorld

May later presented Our Man in Italy and Our Man in India.

— The West Australian

What the facts add up to

For anyone trying to separate the man from the meme, the reward is a clearer picture: May is a journalist who happened to become a TV star, a partner who kept his private life private, and a friend who stayed loyal to the two men who made him famous. For viewers of The Grand Tour, the concrete takeaway is just as direct — the trio’s partnership is the brand, and it is still intact. If you enjoy this kind of British TV biography, our David Walliams profile covers another long-running television name.

Frequently asked questions