TV chef Gordon Ramsay is renowned for his fiery temper, but away from the heat of the kitchen, he is a loving husband and father. The Hell's Kitchen star, 58, tied the knot to wife Tana, 50, in 1996 and went on to welcome Megan, 26, twins Holly and Jack, 24, Tilly, 22, five-year-old Oscar and baby Jesse, who was born in 2023. However it almost wasn't meant to be as when they first met at a party of a mutual friend, Tana, a former schoolteacher, was already dating someone else.
Their paths crossed again shortly afterwards and the pair have been committed ever since. As Gordon reached international stardom, earning an impressive accolade from Michelin restaurants, Tana held the fort at home, raising their six children. And it hasn't been easy as they split their time as a family between LA and London thanks to the restauranteur's demanding career, with their marriage once rocked by a cheating scandal in 2008, and more recently, overcoming the tragic loss of their stillborn son, Rocky.
Their romance was rocked when a woman claimed to have had a seven-year affair with Gordon. Sarah Symonds was 31 and working in sales for an events and limo company in London when she claimed she met the TV chef in the winter of 2001 at London's Chinawhite Nightclub. The allegations were published in the now-defunct News of the World in 2008, and Gordon vehemently denied the claim, telling a cookery audience for the BBC Good Food Show in Birmingham: "If I was going to cheat it wouldn't be with a complete slapper.".
Writing for MailOnline, Sarah claimed: "At 37, our relationship was the longest, albeit unwisest, I'd ever had with a man (and is, in fact, still the longest relationship I've ever been in). she added: "Christmas is soul-sappingly miserable when you're involved with a married man. However much you believe they care for you, it's their wife they always go back to on this the most magical day of the year." The Mirror contacted Gordon's reps for comment at the time.
According to Sarah, who wrote a book called Having an Affair? A Handbook for the Other Woman, Gordon gave her a gift 10 days before Christmas in 2007 but never once asked about her festive plans. But after the report surfaced, Gordon reportedly assured Tana he had only met Symonds four times and was said to be devastated by the uproar. Like most couples, the division of labour around the house can be a source of contention. And Tana has admitted she "resented" having to do the bulk of the childcare in their household.
Chatting to Giovanna Fletcher on her Happy Mum Happy Baby podcast, the former teacher, 50, said she found it difficult at times to see her husband relax after working, despite the pair agreeing that she would take on the majority of duties while he worked as a chef and TV star. Asked if their prior agreement made it easier for the couple, she replied: "Yes, but it doesn't mean that sometimes you didn't resent it. When I say resent, it's just sometimes I'd be like, 'oh, for God's sake, you can't, you know… do you need to sit on the sofa and sort of rest and watch the news and have ten minutes to yourself? Because I can't do that.'.
"And I think I'd be lying if I said: 'No, it's fine, I took this on.' And there were times it felt really hard, but you get over it.". While Gordon and Tana are proud parents of six children, they also tragically lost a child. The mum had to deliver her stillborn son Rocky at 20 weeks in 2016, with Gordon by her side. In a candid admission, Tana revealed that son Oscar, five, who was born three years later, often asks about his older "brother in the sky". Speaking to hosts Lorraine Candy and Trish Halpin on the Postcards from Midlife podcast in July, she revealed she harbours guilt over what happened.
The 50-year-old questioned whether she could have "done something differently" while sharing that she and Gordon, 57, will never get over the heartbreak. "I still suffer so much guilt," she said, before going on to ask whether she "should have known something.". The mum-of-six added: "I still suffer so much guilt. Did I, should I have known something? Should I have done something differently? It's one of those things that some days you're absolutely fine and you can kind of justify it.".
Tana went on to add: "Other days, for some reason, whether it's because you're overtired or something triggers you, I can have a day where I just feel really emotional. You don't expect to be holding a baby knowing that they're not going last more than an hour. That is always gonna be something I can never, never get over.". "Even Oscar now, he talks about Rocky, his brother in the sky or his star," she said. She continued: "And he'll come out with things like 'I really don't like him being there. Why can't he just come here?' One of the hardest times actually was after I had Oscar, and he must have been about three weeks old. And I had a day where I felt so emotional. I think it was the guilt that I didn't think that I felt enough about Rocky because I've been excited with a new baby. And that threw me, and I remember Gordon saying to me, it was always going to hit you like this now, because we've been so in this bubble.
