Gordon Ramsay says he gets “incredibly upset” when people mistakenly confuse his notoriously hot-headed, boisterous personality with him being on drugs.
The celebrity chef says he is aware that he could have gone down the same route as his brother, who became addicted to heroin, which he says is a “stern reminder on a daily basis” of where his life could have gone.
Discussing his views on cocaine on the Big Fish with Spencer Matthews podcast, the TV chef said: “I get incredibly upset when everybody thinks I’m on it because you’re boisterous, you’re loud and you’re excited.
“That’s just passion. Pure fucking passion and that’s no different to being in a dressing room or changing room at half-time, 2-0 down and you’ve got to get your shit together in the next 45 minutes.
“Growing up in that environment you’re never worried about losing, it was the fight back.
“So, at three (Michelin) star level there is a price to pay for that and it’s not flipping burgers and dressing fucking Caesar salads. It’s just the ultimate, so it’s as refined as an athlete.
“So, I got upset when everyone thought that rock’n’roll status in the industry was dependent on this fucking white powder and it was absolute nonsense.”
In 2017, the restauranteur presented a two-part series titled Gordon Ramsay On Cocaine where he explored how the UK’s use of the drug impacts the country.
The chef says his difficult upbringing on council estates and watching his mother work three jobs to support his family motivated him to not get caught up in this scene but to instead “better himself”.
“You never start cooking to get rich, or to be sort of successful. I think the environment you come from defines you,” he said.
“Growing up in multiple shit holes, you get one’s shit together early. And so, I just wanted to better myself and get out of a situation that was unfortunate.
“And growing up on 15 council estates, there’s always a nerve-wracking moment when you’re going to another school, another football club and having to make mates again, sometimes twice in one year. So that’s incredibly disruptive.
“So, I set out to change that with my family and give them the security and everything that I’d wished for… and what you don’t have in life you search for, and then when you get it, you maintain it.
“So no, I never expected that level of success. But like any success, it’s been worked for, it’s never handed on a plate.”
He added that his brother’s addiction to heroin is a “stern reminder on a daily basis” to him of where his life could have gone.
He said: “I remind myself just how different it could have been, if I had gone down a different road and sort of felt that the country owed me something rather than fighting for something.”