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Privacy NoticeHe’s known the world over, is the top-selling non-fiction author in the UK, has a TV career spanning 25 years and yet, somehow, always appears so down to earth. Maybe it’s having a large family – Jamie Oliver and wife Jools have five children, aged between seven and 22. Or maybe it’s the fact that he’s neurodiverse. As a child with dyslexia, Jamie found school difficult and describes words as “his enemy”. He knows that being the second most successful British author is an incredible feat for a man who looks at a page and sees words jump around. But he also has ADHD and knows that being neurodiverse has made him – and kept him – who he is today.
Jamie Oliver has released his new children’s book, Billy And The Epic Escape
(Image: Puffin Books/PA)
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Jamie, 49, has just published his latest children’s book, Billy And The Epic Escape – the second he’s written and a sequel to the first. And as he writes about the adventures of Billy and his mates, he’s also talking about his own struggles growing up. “Confidence, worry and anxiety are part of a cauldron of different emotions that challenge us,” he says. “And, when you’re young, they can hold you back. But, as you get older, [they provide] a tension that makes you do your best work. “Life’s not supposed to be easy. I want my kids to struggle – but in a safe and controlled way.” He describes working weekends at his family’s Clavering pub, The Cricketers, saying, “Cooking saved me. While everything was going very badly at school, at the weekend I was able to be someone and have something to offer.
‘I want my kids to struggle – but in a safe and controlled way’
(Image: Instagram/Jamie Oliver)
“Cooking was normalised, earning £1.20 an hour was normalised and getting paid because I did what I promised was normalised. So, my confidence was building on one side, and, dare I say it, slightly diminishing on the other. “I had such resentment towards the written word and traditional learning. I’ve got rid of that now. I guess what I’m trying to say is book two was not a chore. It was beyond exciting. And, without knowing it, it was therapy. To be heading towards 50 and still learning big lessons, still making yourself vulnerable to criticism – I’m proud of it.” Having grown up being “not good at a lot of stuff that is measured in a school environment”, he’s come a long way, most of which he owes to that pub. “Pubs welcome everyone,” he says. “They are unique. I grew up around farmers and old age pensioners. The cricket club; the bowls club; the tennis club; rich City boys, drinking single malts and with an E-Type Jag out the back… pubs are really special places. And that was my school, really.
The chef and author with his wife Jools Oliver
(Image: Getty Images for Emirates)
‘I love my life. And I love the work that I have the opportunity to do’
(Image: Instagram/Jamie Oliver)
Teenage Jamie was in love with people, optimistic for life and learning how to be a glass half full person. And I don’t mean it in a romantic or sugary way. But when you live in a pub, interacting with the public, you see the best and worst of the community, but mainly the best.” And with the big 5-0 approaching, maybe Jamie’s next big thing will take him very much back to his roots. “I love my life. And I love the work that I have the opportunity to do,” he says. “But I still haven’t fulfilled my career goal, which is to open a beautiful pub, and do my version of what I grew up in.” Billy And The Epic Escape by Jamie Oliver (Puffin Books, £14.99) is available nowStory SavedYou can find this story in My Bookmarks.Or by navigating to the user icon in the top right.Follow OK! MagazineFacebookTwitterCommentMore OnJamie Oliver
