1966-present
Latest News: Gordon Ramsay Recovering from Cycling Accident
Chef and TV star Gordon Ramsay is encouraging cyclists to put their safety first after experiencing his own terrifying accident. The 57-year-old posted a video and photos to Instagram on June 15 detailing the crash, which occurred the previous week. In the short clip, he raised his chef jacket to show a bruise covering the entire left side of his torso.
“Honestly, you’ve got to wear a helmet. I don’t care how short the journey is,” Ramsay said, also sharing a picture of his tattered headgear. “I’m lucky to be standing here. I’m in pain, it’s been a brutal week, and I’m sort of getting through it, but I cannot tell you the importance of wearing a helmet.”
The avid cycling enthusiast, who has participated in triathlons and Ironman races, said he received treatment at Lawrence + Memorial Hospital in New London, Connecticut, and is recovering. However, he added the incident “really shook me.”
Who Is Gordon Ramsay?
Celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay owns several restaurants, hosts TV shows like MasterChef and Hell’s Kitchen, and has written more than 20 books. Born in Scotland, he left behind an early athletic career to become a renowned chef in London. By the early 2000s, he was making his mark on British TV as the temperamental host of Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares and Hell’s Kitchen, shows that made a successful transition to American audiences. The award-winning chef has since expanded his celebrity brand via such programs as MasterChef and Next Level Chef and opened more restaurants around the globe.
Quick Facts
FULL NAME: Gordon James Ramsay
BORN: November 8, 1966
BIRTHPLACE: Johnstone, Scotland
SPOUSE: Cayetana Elizabeth Ramsay (1996-present)
CHILDREN: Megan, Holly, Jack, Matilda, Oscar, and Jesse
ASTROLOGICAL SIGN: Scorpio
Early Life
Gordon James Ramsay was born on November 8, 1966, in Johnstone, Scotland, within the United Kingdom. He was raised in Stratford-upon-Avon, England, after moving there with his family at the age of 5.
Ramsay’s first love was soccer, and he set his sights on a professional sports career. At the age of 15, the talented Ramsay joined the Glasgow Rangers, a pro club. His time with the team spanned three years, until 1985 when a knee injury prematurely ended his career.
Forced to start over, Ramsay returned to school, earning a degree in hotel management in 1987. After finishing his studies, Ramsay placed himself under the direction of some of Europe’s top chefs. He apprenticed with Marco Pierre White at Harvey’s in London, worked for Albert Roux at Le Gavroche, and then worked under master chefs Joel Robuchon and Guy Savoy in France.
Restaurants
In 1993, Ramsay struck out on his own as head chef of the newly opened Aubergine in London where, over the course of three years, he earned the restaurant a two-star rating from Michelin. More personal prestige followed in 1995 when Ramsay was awarded Newcomer of the Year at the prestigious Catey Awards, an Oscars-like event for the restaurant and hotel business.
When the restaurant’s financial backing became shaky, Ramsay left Aubergine and opened his own establishment, Restaurant Gordon Ramsay, in 1998 in London. Hailed as a destination for high-end foodies, the restaurant eventually received a three-star rating from Michelin.
The next several years proved to be a whirlwind for the ambitious, hard-driving, and temperamental Ramsay. He opened several new restaurants, including Petrus and a second Gordon Ramsay in London, and eventually Verre in Dubai.
Named Chef of the Year at the 2000 Catey Awards and Independent Restaurateur of the Year in 2006, Ramsay brought his restaurant business to the United States in 2006 with the opening of two establishments at The London NYC.
The celebrity chef has since expanded his reach around the globe—bringing his brand to such countries as South Africa, Australia, and Canada—and opened eateries in major American cities such as Boston, Chicago, Las Vegas, Miami, and Washington.
Over the course of his career, Ramsay’s restaurants have earned 17 total Michelin stars.
TV Shows: Kitchen Nightmares, Hell’s Kitchen, and More
Ramsay’s migration to television began in 1996 with his appearance as a judge on the BBC competitive cooking show MasterChef. In 1999, he was the focus of a British documentary miniseries, Boiling Point, which tracked him as he opened his first restaurant. The success of that documentary spawned a follow-up miniseries, Beyond Boiling Point, in 2000.
Ramsey was tapped to host two programs in the spring of 2004: In Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares, he sought to turn around failing restaurants, and in Hell’s Kitchen, he ran a cooking competition among 10 celebrities, with audiences voting off contestants.
With reality television in full bloom in the United States, the time was ripe for Ramsay to make his move across the Atlantic. In May 2005, an American version of Hell’s Kitchen, which placed aspiring restaurateurs under the intense eye of the show’s host, debuted on Fox. Like their British counterparts, American audiences learned to love and hate the abrasive chef as he narrowed the field of participants down to one final winner. Meanwhile, he launched another culinary series back in the United Kingdom, The F Word.
Ramsay’s strong ratings on American screens opened the door for an adaptation of Kitchen Nightmares, which debuted in September 2007. The series ran for seven seasons through 2014 and returned to Fox in 2023.
The show’s success led to the American productions of MasterChef, beginning in 2010, and MasterChef Junior, starting three years later, with Ramsay heading the group of judges on both programs. In 2012, he drew from his education in hotel management and added another show to his schedule, a variation of his “save a failing establishment” theme with Hotel Hell.
Ramsay has also served as the host of culinary shows such as Gordon Ramsay’s 24 Hours to Hell and Back and Next Level Chef, as well as the National Geographic travel show Gordon Ramsay: Uncharted. He was also a producer for the 2015 drama movie Burnt, starring Bradley Cooper as a disgraced chef trying to revive his career.
Outside the Kitchen
Along with his work on TV and in his restaurants, Ramsay has written more than 20 books. His various businesses have been consolidated into Gordon Ramsay Holdings Ltd.
Honored for his impressive record of achievement, Ramsay was named Officer of the Order of the British Empire in 2006. In 2013, he was inducted into the Culinary Hall of Fame.
Ramsay is also known for his participation with the Make-A-Wish Foundation, which grants the wishes of children battling serious illness. In 2018, Ramsay helped set up 32 wishes in one day with the help of celebrity friends such as James Corden and Katy Perry.
Wife and Children
Ramsay met schoolteacher Cayetana Elizabeth “Tana” Hutcheson at a New Year’s Eve party during the mid-1990s. According to The Guardian, Tana was engaged to someone else at the time, but the pair soon met again and started dating. They married in December 1996.
In 2014, the couple established the Gordon and Tana Ramsay Foundation to help support the Great Ormond Street Hospital Children’s Charity.
They have six children together: Megan, twins Holly and Jack, Matilda, Oscar, and, most recently, a son named Jesse, who was born in November 2023.
Matilda, known as “Tilly,” has followed in her father’s culinary footsteps. She published her own cookbook, Tilly’s Kitchen Takeover, in 2017 at age 15 and hosted her own cooking show titled Matilda and the Ramsay Bunch from 2015 to 2019 on British network CBBC.
Net Worth
According to Celebrity Net Worth, Ramsay’s total fortune is estimated to be around $220 million as of March 2024.
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