A RECIPE FOR SUCCESS

Chef Gordon Ramsay opens up about parenthood, his painful past and striving for perfection in a new Netflix series

- JEN PHARO

Gordon Ramsay is famous for being a hotheaded perfectionist with a penchant for profanity and an enormous blind spot for other people's feelings. He's all those things in his new Netflix series, but viewers will also see an unexpected softer side to the fiery chef.

Born into poverty, Gordon opens up about the steely ambition that spurred him to a £180 million empire, his father’s alcoholism, his brother's drug addictions and how Tana, his wife of almost 30 years, found him irritating and arrogant when they first met.

Over six episodes, Being Gordon Ramsay covers the culinary legend's tough childhood, his friendship with David Beckham and the run-up to his daughter Holly's tumultuous wedding to Olympic swimmer Adam Peaty.

Gordon also opens up about his marriage to Tana, and reveals that when they first met, she was actually dating one of his friends.

“Tana was driving the car and I was sat in the back seat looking at my mate going, ‘Oh my God your girlfriend is f*****g gorgeous,” says Gordon, 59. “She looked like a young Julia Roberts and she brought this level of excitement like no other. I'm not sure that's what Tana said when she met me, I got the feeling she wasn't a big fan.”

Gordon's instincts aren't wrong. “I thought he was really arrogant, really full of himself,” says Tana, 51. “He used to really irritate me. It took about a month and then we were both single. We ended up chatting one night and chatted all night. I must have fancied him. The amazing ambition was there, absolute dedication, he’s always been someone who dreams big, but he’s just Gordon to me.”

Inspired by his mentor, renowned chef Marco Pierre White, young Gordon had big ambitions, driven by his desire to escape poverty for good.