Gordon Ramsay opens up about alcoholic father in new Netflix docuseries

Gordon Ramsay has reflected on his “dysfunctional” childhood, revealing how the hardships he endured shaped both his relentless work ethic and his approach to fatherhood.

Speaking ahead of his new Netflix docuseries, the celebrity chef said viewers may not fully understand the circumstances that defined his early years.

“I think when people see me today on this doc, they don't really fully understand the upbringing,” Ramsay said, recalling how his mother juggled three jobs working as a cook, night nurse and cleaner and would even work on Christmas Day to support the family.

The experience, he explained, instilled in him a deep sense of gratitude and urgency.

“You (A), never take things for granted. (B), you are so appreciative,” he said. “But there's this relentless pursuit of whatever you've got and how you've got it, you never want to lose it. So you are so much more careful about what you do, how you do it, and you go into it at a thousand miles an hour.”

Ramsay described his upbringing as being dealt “dysfunctional cards,” admitting that cooking became his escape route.

“If I didn't cook my way out of that mess, then I could have gone down with the rest of them,” he said. 

He credited his mother for pushing him forward after his early dreams of a sports career faltered. “Stand on your own two feet… get yourself to London, dust yourself down and bounce back,” he recalled her telling him.

“Nothing comes easy in life,” he added. “When you've worked for it personally every step of the way… you go to bed at night with your head on the pillow, you do enjoy it more rather than to be given it.”

The six-part series also sees Ramsay open up about his fraught relationship with his father, whom he describes as an alcoholic. 

He recalled being called a “snob” by his dad and responding that he simply wanted to escape the environment he was born into.

“It’s hard, isn’t it, when someone’s an alcoholic?” he said in the series. “You’re nervous… you’re worried about hitting the end of the bottle and seeing that bottle of Bacardi disappear, ‘cause you know what happens at the end of that.”

Now a father of six, Ramsay says those painful memories have influenced the parent he strives to be.

“So in many ways, I’m using that awful relationship to become a better dad,” he explained.

Ramsay and his wife, Tana Ramsay, share six children: Megan, twins Holly and Jack, Matilda (Tilly), Oscar and Jesse. 

The docuseries captures the dynamic between their adult children and the younger ones, whom Ramsay says are “blessed with the most exciting babysitters” in their older siblings.

One cherished family ritual is Sunday lunch together, a tradition Ramsay says the younger children “absolutely adore.”

“The two little ones can't quite believe all their siblings are there,” he said, describing conversations that range from world events to Oscar’s school reports and French lessons. “It’s quite an incredible dynamic.”