Gordon Ramsay 'cried his eyes out' after witnessing birth of his son, and then fainted
The first things that come to mind when you think of Gordon Ramsay are his fiery temper, his uninhibited use of expletives, his blunt and controversial statements, and the creative insults he dishes out to contestants on the show that he's currently judging.
But not crying.
In an interview with the Daily Mail, the celebrity chef confessed that the birth of his fifth child last month was an incredibly special moment for him, and that, not only did he cry "his f****** eyes out," but that he also fainted.
His wife, Tana, gave birth to son Oscar at the Portland Hospital in London in early April, and it was the first time that Ramsay was present during the birth of one of his children. He said it was an experience he would never forget.
"I’ve been giddy flying in a fighter jet at 1,000mph. I’ve done some very dangerous things underwater," he said, " But I’ve never, ever felt as vulnerable as I did when my son Oscar was born,"
Ramsay explained he had been worried about all sorts of things before he suddenly realized he was in a room where his son was being born. "I’m sat there in the room worrying about menus and ingredients and all of a sudden this little head pops out the sunroof and you s*** yourself!" he exclaimed.
"I cried my f****** eyes out," he admitted. "All of a sudden you are nobody. You’re standing there looking at a team of experts who are saying, 'Right. We're going to look after you now, Tana.' I was as white as a ghost. I fell back into the chair and I fainted. They said, 'Tana's fine. I think it's you we need to look after next.'"
The 52-year-old, whose restaurants have been awarded 16 Michelin stars in total over the years, said the birth was a "moment of madness" and "being out of control," something he was not used to because of his control freak nature.
He shares four other children — Megan, 21, twins Holly and Jack, 19, and Tilly, 17 — with Tana, but said holding the 7 lb 9 oz Oscar for the first time was still very much an overwhelming experience.
"I had to hand him back," he told the Mail. "‘I was like a sack of s*** on a hot day. And I’m looking in his eyes thinking, 'Oh no dude, you're gonna be p***** off with me when you hear about this."
The birth was also a healing experience for the couple. Tana suffered a miscarriage of a boy they had named Rocky five months into her previous pregnancy in June 2016, and Ramsay said his son's recent birth did help in terms of getting more open about that life-altering experience.
"I don’t think you’ll ever forget, in terms of healing," he said. "It didn’t smooth anything over… because that time was awful. But we’ve sort of brought closure to that. Now it’s easier to talk about Rocky."