Gordon Ramsay has spoken candidly about the poverty that shaped his childhood, calling his early years “disgusting” and admitting that he sometimes went days without food.
The revelations come in his new six-part Netflix documentary Being Gordon Ramsayairs from Wednesday and follows the chef as he devotes his energy to his latest high-stakes project in the City of London.
Alongside the pressure of launching a major new business, the series sees Ramsay reflect on the struggles that fueled his hard work ethic.
In a moving episode, Ramsay reflects on his childhood in council estates after being born in Scotland and moving to England as a child.
He recalls relying on food stamps at school and the shame that came with them, explaining how poverty affected him as a teenager.
“I was hungry all the time, there was no food in the house,” he says in the series.
“I was sometimes too embarrassed to use my vouchers to get my free shepherd’s pie in case, you know, when I was 15 or 16, some girl I fancied saw me. I was a skinny fucking bean. I remember eating toothpaste and thinking it was delicious because there were many nights we never ate.”
Reflecting on the broader situation, Ramsay adds: “It’s appalling that we’re in this situation now. It’s disgusting, it’s embarrassing. The system is broken.”
These experiences motivated him to get involved with the charity Feeding Britain, which aims to provide affordable food to around 800,000 children living in poverty across the UK.
The documentary also addresses painful family relationships.
Ramsay’s father, who died of a heart attack at age 53, struggled with alcoholism, while his younger brother Ronnie is a heroin addict.
The chef becomes visibly emotional while remembering a recent phone call with his brother after a long period of not speaking.
“It was just sad because at the end of that call he said, ‘Did I hear you ask for my bank details? I don’t have electricity,’” Ramsay recalls.
“And so I said, ‘Come on, Ronnie, you know damn well if I knew it was going to go to electricity, I would do it. But I know damn well it’s going to go to drugs.’ And it hurts me, it kills me, buddy. We have been down this path so many times.
The series follows Ramsay over nine months as he prepares to open several businesses inside London’s iconic skyscraper, 22 Bishopsgate, including Britain’s tallest restaurant, Restaurant Gordon Ramsay High, located on the 60th floor.
The intimate 12-seat chef’s table experience has already earned him another Michelin star.
Ramsay, who trained with Marco Pierre White before opening his first restaurant at 35 and quickly obtaining three Michelin stars, admits that the fear of losing everything still drives him.
“There’s always this fear that you’re going to lose it,” he says in the trailer. “I’ve lost stars, closed several restaurants during my career. That’s what puts gas in my tank.”
Despite his global success and reputation as one of the most famous chefs in the world, Ramsay says watching the documentary is not something he plans to do.
“I won’t watch it,” he admits with a smile. “I never watch myself on TV because it’s incredibly distressing.”
By laying bare its past and the pressure to build a new culinary landmark, Being Gordon Ramsay offers a raw look at how hardship, family pain, and fear of failure shaped the leader behind those screams, and why his memories of his childhood poverty are still so deeply important today.
