Jamie oliver:
Celebrity chef Jamie Oliver talks about his ever-expanding family, his friendship with Cheryl and why he’s no longer the most popular man in his household
“I can’t believe we’re going back to nappies again!”
He burst on to our TV screens in 1999 as the fresh-faced Naked Chef, and has since risen to become the UK’S most popular chef – worth an estimated £240 million. Add to the mix that he’s amassed a gaggle of A-list friends – from teaching his good pal Brad Pitt how to prepare the perfect Christmas dinner, to cooking for Barack Obama – and it’s easy to see why Jamie Oliver is very content with his life right now.
LIFE OVERHAUL
The self-confessed workaholic overhauled his life two years ago, when he admitted he’d been living off just three-and-a-half hours sleep for the past decade. Now he’s in bed by 10pm, wearing his silk eye mask, and has shed an impressive 2st. But he’s still got time to mingle with his showbiz friends, like Cheryl. Jamie says: “We had dinner recently and I might have pushed my luck a bit, because I served Cheryl this beautiful dish of food and she asked what it was – it was sweetbreads [a lamb or calf’s pancreas]! When I told her, she gave me one of those doublelooks – but she wasn’t bothered at all.
“She’s very smart and has really interesting views on lots of subjects like child and teenage health, because these kids are her fans.”
And dad-of-four Jamie – who has daughters Poppy Honey, 13, Daisy Boo, 12, and Petal Blossom, six, as well as son Buddy Bear, five, with wife Jools – says it’s his family who keep him grounded, and admits: “I have a weird job; a weird life – but my family keep me real.”
A NEW ADDITION
Jamie, 41, and former model Jools, 42, were teenage sweethearts who married in 2000 – and despite Jamie previously saying that four kids was enough, the pair are excitedly awaiting the new addition to their brood next month.
“Jools wanted one more, so what could I do? Women have final control,” he says. “She just loves being a mum and she’s fantastic at it.
“In a month from now, the house is going to get noisier and sleep’s going to get bumpier – I can’t believe we’re going to be back into nappies again.
“Jools is famous for choosing quite colourful names and people turn their noses up at it, but it’s Poppy Honey and Daisy Boo – it’s only the middle names that are fun; the first names are beautiful. It’s just a laugh – I mean, my middle name is Trevor!”
ONE DIRECTION OBSESSION
But Jamie jokes that he’s lost his crown as the most popular man in his family’s lives, with One Direction’s Harry Styles and Niall Horan taking over.
Jamie says: “Seriously, I’m nobody to Jools, Poppy and Daisy – they’re all obsessed with Harry and Niall. Jools actually took them to sit outside Harry’s house once, but it wasn’t proper stalking because he lives quite near us. Still, she was just as excited as they were.
“The girls have life-size cut-outs of the two of them in their room and every night I get the shock of my life when I see the shadow of these two blokes, thinking they might be burglars because the girls always move them around.”
SUCCESS STORY
After being teased at school for being “thick” while struggling with dyslexia, Jamie says the kitchen of his parents’ pub – The Cricketers in Essex where he grew up – became his training ground. He adds: “When I was having a bad time at school, I never let it destroy my confidence because I knew I was going to be a chef.”
He became a TV star aged 23 with his Naked Chef TV show, and has since tackled everything from school dinners to obesity, while declaring war on sugar. Jamie has also been awarded an MBE for establishing restaurant Fifteen, where he trains young people in the business, all while juggling more than 30 restaurants and publishing over 20 cookery books. He’s got a new book out this month – Super Food Family Classics – and an accompanying TV series in September.
Jamie says: “I would never have imagined that I’d have had even a tiny bit of the success I’ve had in my work. I’m proud of my marriage, I’m proud of my kids and I’m proud of my wife. I’m very content.”
Super Food Family Classics by Jamie Oliver is out now (Penguin Random House, £26). The TV series starts in early September on Channel 4