Gordon Ramsay is known for his angry and uncompromising nature, but his TV persona is a very different man to the one his family know and love. This is especially the case when he demanded to be in the delivery room for the birth of his fifth son after not being there for the birth of his other four children.
“Tana didn't f—ing want me there!” cried Ramsay.
He made sure history wouldn’t repeat itself 17 years after their fourth child.
“I said, 'F–k it, I'm going to be there',” he says, and his wife Tana happily gave in.
Despite Ramsay’s best efforts to be present in the delivery room, the reality of a c-section proved to be too much and he fainted for the first time in his life.
“It was hot in there, there was no air-conditioning, and the floor looked like the middle of a f—in' abattoir,” he recalls to Now To Love.
“I'm not good at that stuff. I know my strengths and that was my weakness.”
Ramsay made sure he learned from his fathers mistakes, as his father was a “hard drinking womaniser” who never owned a home. This drove Ramsay to purchase his first flat when he was just 19, making sure his future was already different from his parents.
“I learnt how to become a great dad,” he says, “opposite to what I experienced.”
As Ramsay divides his time between London and Los Angeles, he makes sure his kids get his best mood.
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“I don't see them as much as Tana,” explains Ramsay, “so when I do see them, I don't want fall-outs.”
The happy couple definitely have their hands full with 22-year-old Megan, 20-year-old twins Holly and Jack, 18-year-old Matilda and 1 year old Oscar, but wife Tana is well aware people have the wrong perception of her husband.
“When Megan brings a boy home you can see in his eyes, he's terrified, but Gordon will be the first to make him feel at home. He loves being surrounded by the kids and their friends.”
The doting dad couldn’t be prouder of his son, who turned one around a week ago.
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Ramsay isn’t a fan of when people mistake him for Oscar’s grandfather, but he stands firm by his decision to be a father to a newborn in his 50s.
“Everyone says, 'You're mad', and it's like, 'F–k off! What's it got to do with you?'”
He says he’s savouring every second of new parenthood, especially because it’s “horrible” seeing his older kids leave the nest and start careers of their own.
“It sort of confirmed that we hadn't over-mollycoddled them.”
“They've got to understand it's not just on a plate. I'm there for them but I can't do it for them.”
This means the kids are self-sufficient, fly economy and hold weekend jobs.
They can all also cook well by the age of 10, but none of them are following in their dad’s footsteps.
Jack, his 20 year old son at university, sells his dishes to classmates.
“He can cook brilliantly but he has no interest,” says Gordon.
“He's like, 'F–k no, I want a proper job'.”
The hope of a chef son hasn’t died out with Oscar, 1, as he’s started eating like his dad.
“He has started throwing his food back – so there's a palate there,” says Gordon.
“And he's already got that first wrinkle in his forehead, which is great news.”
This article originally appeared on Over60.