If Gordon Ramsay had a dollar for every time he shouted the F-word … he’d probably still be the multi-millionaire he is today.
The global celebrity chef places 19th on Forbes’ list of the world’s highest-paid celebrities and has amassed a substantial fortune. Ramsay’s net worth isn’t known, but estimates range from $220 million to $750 million.
But the star chef wasn’t always surrounded by the trappings of success that he enjoys today.
Ramsay grew up in an abusive household and relied at times on handouts from neighbors. It was only through dedication and perfectionism that he made it to the top of his game.
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“I’d like to be remembered for perfection. Because it’s an absolute bitch to get right, but when it is, it’s the most beautiful fucking thing on the planet,” he told GQ.
This is how the foul-mouthed, Michelin-starred celebrity chef made his way up in the world.
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Gordon Ramsay grew up in council housing on the outskirts of Glasgow
Chef Ramsay on HELL’S KITCHEN
Gordon James Ramsay was born in Johnstone, a town on the outskirts of Glasgow, Scotland, in 1966.
His mother was a nurse, and his father, also called Gordon, was a swimming pool manager, welder, and shopkeeper.
In his autobiography, Humble Pie, Ramsay revealed that his father had abused and neglected his children.
‘He hit us when he was drunk, things were thrown, we had to run for our lives. We spent many nights, weekends, hidden in DHSS rooms,” Ramsay told the Daily Telegraph in 2008.
When Ramsay was nine, he moved with his parents and three siblings to Stratford-upon-Avon in England. He did not reconcile with his father, who died in 1997.
After an injury killed his hopes for a career in soccer, Ramsay pursued cooking
Chef and television personality Gordon Ramsay, circa 1999
Gordon Ramsay in 1999. TV Times/Getty
Ramsay had aspired to be a professional soccer player as a child and by the age of 12 had made it onto a national youth team. He had been training with the Scottish team Rangers for several months when a knee injury ended his career as a sportsman.
Instead, he turned to the kitchen, a decision which he later called “a complete accident.”
After studying hotel management at North Oxfordshire Technical College, he started work as a commis chef in the mid-80s.