I shouldn’t have worked with pals, says chef Jamie after losing £90m

JAMIE Oliver has said he should never have worked with friends – after losing £90million in three years.

The celebrity chef, 42, has 48 dining outlets in the UK and his 19 books have been printed in 36 languages.

Yet he and his wife Jools’s joint worth fell from £240million in 2014 to £150million this year on the Sunday Times Rich List.

Oliver admitted he ‘may have made money’ but has ‘also lost loads’ over the years. Speaking about life in his 30s and 40s, he added: ‘I basically squirrelled nothing away, I built no safety and I had a slightly weird view of the recession.’ He said he now has ‘lists of friends that I shouldn’t have collaborated with – never mix business and pleasure’.

As well as his restaurant empire, Essexborn Oliver has had a host of his own TV shows such as The Naked Chef and Jamie’s Great Britain as well as now running his own YouTube channel. Speaking about his early success, he said: ‘It was pukkad up, it was chirpy and cocky and life was great, but I didn’t know enough about the realities of business and all the grown-up stuff that revolves around a man.

‘I was just loving life, partying and cooking’, he told the Daily Telegraph. Oliver, who has five children aged from one to 15 with his wife, also revealed the difficulties in raising such a large family. He said: ‘It is a struggle with nappies all over the house and stair gates, we’ve got three sets of kids – we’ve got teenagers so that’s revision, hormones, the whole thing.’ Oliver, whose latest book Five Ingredients: Quick & Easy Food is out this month, has been with his wife since they met on a double date at the age of 17. His secret to a happy marriage is ‘keeping work really separate’ from family.