Gordon Ramsay may be known for his fiery kitchen persona, but away from the cameras the TV chef has faced heartbreak much closer to home.
In his new Netflix documentary Being Gordon Ramsay, he opens up about the deeply personal struggle that has shaped much of his life — his brother Ronnie’s long battle with heroin addiction.
The six-part series, airing this week on Netflix, follows Gordon’s career highs and family life with wife Tana. But it also delves into the painful reality of his relationship with Ronnie — a story Gordon has never shied away from, yet still clearly finds difficult to revisit.
Gordon Ramsay on heroin addict brother
Gordon, the middle child in his family, has an older sister and a younger brother, Ronnie. According to the chef, Ronnie has struggled with heroin addiction for the past four decades.
Back in 2007, Ronnie was jailed for 10 months for heroin possession on Bali Island and handed a £265 fine.
Speaking candidly in Being Gordon Ramsay, Gordon says: “I have a brother who’s a heroin addict. We shared a bunk bed together, he’s 15 months younger than me and he’s been an addict for the last four decades.
“I’ve gone to hell and back with him. And so I have a guilt complex that could have been me, it could have been switched.
“So when that change is so close to you — it’s your brother right, it’s not cousin, it’s not a mate down the pub, it’s your brother born in the same house, grew up in the same bedroom shared bunk beds and so similar but so different now.”
Gordon ‘done everything we can to help him’
The emotional toll is something Gordon has spoken about before. During a 2017 appearance on The Jonathan Ross Show, he admitted: “I don’t think there is any easy drug. But when you stoop to the depths of heroin, it’s very rare you get back.
“We’ve done everything we can to help him, now he just sort of binges and disappears so that’s just a constant reminder and also being a father of four ourselves, you need to be there for them because this stuff is rife.”
More recently, Gordon revealed he had been in contact with Ronnie just weeks before his daughter Holly married Adam Peaty.
“It was tough. It still pains me. He said, ‘Hey, have you got a music gig for the wedding? I’m free’,” Gordon told MailOnline.
“I put down the phone and I said to Tana, ‘F hell, here we are in the house we sleep in and there’s my little brother still with two pit bulls in a council flat in Birmingham, busking’.”
‘He couldn’t get out of that scenario’
In 2023, speaking to Spencer Matthews on the Big Fish with Spencer Matthews podcast, Gordon reflected on how differently life unfolded for the two brothers.
“The flipside to my success is my brother’s addiction to heroin. It’s bizarre isn’t it?
“You grow up on several council estates, you’re sharing this tiny bedroom and you’re in bunkbeds. You’re so close as brothers, we’re 14 months apart so much has changed dramatically.”
He added: “I have that reminder on a daily basis how different it could have been if I’d gone down a different road and felt the country owed me something rather than fighting for something.”
Gordon also recalled how Ronnie became involved with the wrong crowd, describing how he went from being a “blue-eye boy” to falling down a “slippery slope in freefall”.
“Sadly he couldn’t get out of that scenario, took a bad turn. You start off with a couple of joints and then suddenly the dependency is far greater further down the line.”