Their story has been fraught with difficulties, scandals and tragedy but even today, they stand strong together as they raise their beloved family.
The name Gordon Ramsay is synonymous with expletives and brutal rants. On-screen on his various food shows and competitions like Hell's Kitchen, Kitchen Nightmares, and Masterchef, the Scotland-born chef is known to be a tempest but when he's with his family, he turns into a total softie. And the one woman who sees and loves both sides of him is none other than his wife of 24 years, Tana Ramsay. But their relationship wasn't an easy one.
The couple first met when Gordon was 26 and Tana was 18. At the time, the latter had been dating another British chef while Gordon was still earning his culinary stripes working in a London kitchen. The rising star had fallen head over heels in love at the first sight of Tana but respectfully backed off when he knew she was committed to someone else. Instead, he patiently waited until she was single again before swooping her off her feet on their first date, according to Bustle.
However, despite the two of them being in a relationship, Gordon's grueling 16-hour workdays in the London restaurant meant they barely saw each other and had to meet up at odd hours. Tana told The Sun, “I would work, come home, sleep, and wake up again when Gordon finished work. We’d meet up in the small hours. That was the only way we could be together, and we really wanted to be together.” So they made it work and by 1996, the two were married. But starting a family wasn't a smooth experience.
In fact, the couple's first children were born via IVF as Tana had trouble conceiving due to being diagnosed with polycystic ovarian syndrome. Additionally, speaking to host James Corden on The Late Late Show, the restaurateur said, “I had a very low sperm count on the back of standing in the kitchen for that length of time close to the stove.” However, the treatment worked and soon, they became parents to four children, Megan, twins Jack and Holly, and Matilda.
And just when things seemed to be settling down for the young family and Gordon was making his way up the ranks, they were hit with a cheating scandal. In 2008, an alleged "professional mistress" called Sarah Symonds claimed she had been in a secret, on-off relationship with Gordon for seven years. Though the chef denied the allegations, he also apologized to his wife for all the accusations, according to Good Housekeeping.
While that story faded to the background later, the Ramsays were forced to go through another trauma. Before the couple's fifth son, Oscar was born, Tana suffered a miscarriage. “Hi guys, Tana and I want to thank you so much for your support over the past couple of weeks. We had a devastating weekend as Tana has sadly miscarried our son at five months. We’re together healing as a family, but we want to thank everyone again for all your amazing support and well wishes," the chef wrote on Facebook. Later in 2016, Tana revealed how her husband had handled the miscarriage with her.
“I found it really hard when people would talk to me and not mention it because it was like it never happened,” she told Metro UK. “You go from having a baby kicking inside of you to suddenly it’s not there. I’d always breastfed all of my children, and then three days after it happened, I suddenly felt an aching in my chest and realised that it was my body getting ready to breastfeed, and there was no baby. Gordon was amazing, and he’s always been one to talk about everything and he was very good at sort of talking it out of me and never making me feel that, 'Oh, you know, maybe we shouldn’t talk about it.'"
As much of a support as the 54-year-old father had been, there was another time when he had to work to save his marriage. Given his career path, snacking had become a habit for him, one that nearly cost him what he had with Tana. As an occupational hazard, most chefs are akin to the food addictions that come with spending too much time cooking food each day. Eventually, Tana, a fitness enthusiast herself, spoke to him about her concern for his weight and health, especially because Gordon’s father died at a relatively young age of 53. Speaking on the Today show in 2018, Tana jokingly added, “Gordon’s famous for being blunt. I just gave him a little bit of his own medicine and suggested that he was getting a little wide around his middle," as per MensXP.
Her husband shared her sentiments and got himself a fitness coach to get in shape which led him to drop 50 kgs later. “I don’t want my industry to kill me,” said Gordon. “I know how unhealthy chefs are at the top level. Stress. Suicide. There’s a big downside to cooking loads for a living. It’s lethal: from obesity to heart attacks to cocaine habits." Now he joins his wife in her fitness excursions, even roping their kids into it.
Their relationship rollercoaster ride might have caused any other couple to separate long ago, but for Gordon and Tana, it only made them stronger.
References:
https://www.goodhousekeeping.com/life/entertainment/a27210075/gordon-ramsay-wife/
Cover image source: Getty Images | Photo by (L) Matt Winkelmeyer (R) Paul A. Herbert
