By Katie Daly
Copyright hellomagazine
As a father of five, Jamie Oliver knew there would come a time when he would have to start confronting an empty nest. Now, with his two eldest daughters having moved on to new adventures – Poppy, 23, has spent time travelling around Australia, while Daisy, 22, is studying nursing – the chef admits that he and his wife, Jools, are still adjusting to their changed home life. “With less of us at home, it’s slightly less chaotic, but I’m not going to lie and say it’s quieter,” Jamie tells HELLO! in this exclusive interview. “You do miss that noise. You miss them. I know Jools really feels it.”
The TV cook and entrepreneur, who made his name as the host of the BBC’s The Naked Chef from 1999 to 2001, also has Petal, 16, Buddy, 15, and River, nine, with Jools, his wife of 25 years. “We do still have that buzz that comes with the rhythm of school and family life with the younger three,” Jamie says. “The two older girls might have left home, but we still speak every day and they come back a lot, so we’re never a smaller team for long.”
The star is very close to his children and spoke publicly about his family’s neurodiversity this summer, when he embarked on a mission to advocate for better support for dyslexic children as part of his new Channel 4 show, Jamie’s Dyslexia Revolution. “Looking at how neurodiversity showed up within the family has only ever been helpful,” he says. “Knowing how each other’s brains work can only give you a better understanding of where people are coming from and what they might need to get through the day in the best way and, ultimately, how you can support each other to thrive.”
Jamie, who turned 50 in May, is busier than ever, but his packed schedule hasn’t stopped him from considering how he wants his next decade to look. “I’d be lying if I said that turning the big 5-0 didn’t make me pause and take stock,” he says. “It’s one of the reasons I wrote my new book, Eat Yourself Healthy. “It’s so important to value our health and make it a priority, because without it, you’re in trouble. I’ve tried to make a few changes to my diet; embracing those veggies even more, cutting back on meat, but enjoying good-quality stuff when I do eat it.”
Plenty of walks with his dog, Conker, are built into his daily routine, and Jamie is looking forward to a fresh challenge when he teams up with Chef’s Table and Airbnb to lead a pasta masterclass on 2 October. “I love teaching people to cook, and being able to make it from scratch yourself is a joy,” he says. When it comes to pasta-making, Jamie is happy to take his work home. “I make it every week for our family,” he says, adding that one of his children helps him.
“Buddy loves to cook, but he’s a teenager, so he’s exploring all of his passions at the moment, whether that’s fashion, playing sports, or music. But I know that cooking is something he’ll come back to throughout his life. He’s got that skill base and, once you’ve learnt it, it’s something you can always use.”
Chef’s Table and Airbnb announce five new Airbnb Originals hosted by leading chefs across the globe, including a pasta-making masterclass with Jamie Oliver in London.
To read the full exclusive interview, pick up the latest issue of HELLO! on sale in the UK on Monday. You can subscribe to HELLO! to get the magazine delivered free to your door every week or purchase the digital edition online via our Apple or Google apps.
