Gordon Ramsay’s brother’s addiction explained as chef shares his 'guilt' in Netflix doc Being Gordon Ramsay
His brother is 15 months youngerGordon Ramsay has had his fair share of family drama over the years – including his relationship with brother Ronnie.
The TV chef is back on screens at the moment for his Netflix series Being Gordon Ramsay. The six-part show follows Gordon and his career as well as his family life with wife Tana.
Gordon also speaks about his brother Ronnie in the tell-all documentary series. So here, we’re taking a look inside Gordon’s “tough” relationship with his brother.
Gordon Ramsay on heroin addict brother
Gordon Ramsay, 59, is the middle child in his family, and has an older sister and a younger brother called Ronnie. According to Gordon, 58-year-old Ronnie has struggled with heroin addiction for the last four decades.
Back in 2007, Gordon’s brother Ronnie was sent to jail for 10 months for heroin possession on Bali Island. He was also handed a £265 fine.
“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,” Gordon candidly shared in his Netflix documentary series.
He added: “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’
Speaking previously about his brother, Gordon told Jonathan Ross in 2017: “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.”
What’s more, Gordon also recently revealed he was in contact with Ronnie just weeks before his daughter Holly got married to 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: ‘Bleep]ing 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’
Meanwhile, in 2023, Gordon told Spencer Matthews on the Big Fish podcast: “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 bunk beds. You’re so close as brothers, we’re 14 months apart so much has changed dramatically.
He went on: “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.”
The TV star went on to recall how Ronnie got caught up with the wrong crowd. He watched his brother go from being a “blue-eye boy” to falling down a “slippery slope in freefall”.
Gordon continued: “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.”
Read more: Inside Holly Ramsay’s struggles following devastating sexual assault aged 18
