Where celebrity chefs’ kids are now – from drug dealing and prostitute scandals to uni and tipped for Love Island

GORDON Ramsay’s model daughter Holly is rumoured to be heading to this year’s Love Island. 

According to a show source, the sweary chef’s second eldest child is “the big signing” and is sure to be a “massive hit with the viewers.”

Holly is currently studying at Conde Nast College of Fashion and Design, London, but she has been spotted accompanying her dad on the red carpet and appeared on the family’s CBBC cooking show, Matilda and the Ramsay Bunch. 

On Wednesday, she denied she was going to appear in the dating show. A spokesperson for Love Island said no firm deals have been made yet.

But Holly isn’t the only culinary offspring to make headlines. We take a look at our favourite celeb chefs and what their kids are cooking up. 

Gordon’s less “fancy” cooking star

Holly isn’t the only member of the Ramsay clan to make a name for herself. 

With a world-renowned chef for a father and a cookery book writer for a mother, one of their five children was bound to inherit some kitchen skills. 

Matilda, 19, has hosted the CBBC cooking show, Matilda and the Ramsay Bunch, since 2015 and has published a cookery book for the over 12s. 

She has also appeared on This Morning, Blue Peter, Master Chef Junior and America’s The Late Late Show with James Corden. She was said to be lined up for last year’s Strictly Come Dancing but a broken arm put paid to that.

Tilly turns her nose up at cooking Gordon’s “posh fancy-pants” food and tells him it’s too complicated. She said: “He thinks it’s funny.”

On-screen sex shame of Marco’s boy

The son of the notoriously fearsome chef brought some heat to a reality show – only this one got burned. 

MPW’s son – Marco Pierre White Jr – was on Celebrity Big Brother in 2016 and enjoyed a sizzling sex session with fellow housemate, actress Laura Carter, which was aired on Channel 5, much to his dad’s displeasure. 

Marco, 24, a dad-of-one, was known for his wild behaviour, and admitted in his exit interview from the house that he had slept with prostitutes, often for free. 

He said: “I’ve paid for one hour and had three weeks for free! Most are my good friends now and I will sleep with them for free whenever I want.”

When he was 16, he famously blew £250,000 on a three-month drink and drugs bender in Ibiza. 

Last December, he was charged with stealing a £40 Nokia phone from his father’s hotel – the case was dropped when the manager chose to drop the charges.

Jamie’s little Buddy

The former Naked Chef has been almost as prolific at producing kids as cookbooks. 

The five Oliver kids have grown up in front of our eyes, featuring in many of his TV shows and helping their mum Jools launch her range of Mothercare kids clothes. 

Incredibly, their eldest, Poppy, is now 19 and at university. To mark the occasion, Jools posted a sweet tribute on social media, telling her girl “every bone in my body misses you.”

Meanwhile Buddy has proved quite the mini-me with his flair for cooking. 

He has filmed segments on his famous father’s Instagram, under the hashtag #cookingbuddies. Buddy’s recipes also feature on Jamie’s website, on the “cooking with kids” section.

Drug dealing and jail

Last November, the Irish cook, a regular on ITV1’s Saturday Kitchen, recently wished her son Joshua a happy 21st birthday on Instagram. 

Just a few months earlier, Joshua had walked free from jail after serving four and-a-half months for dealing drugs. 

He had been handed a 15-month sentence on February 28th 2020 after being caught with £19,000 worth of cannabis at his dad Isaac’s renowned Ballymaloe Cookery School, Cork. 

He was granted temporary release as he had already served three weeks on remand and carried out three months in rehab. 

Last July, a month after his release, he was arrested for possessing cocaine and intends to plead not guilty when he appears at Midleton District Court, Cork, on May 13. 

In an interview with The Irish Independent, Rachel said she felt guilty that Joshua had to go through public shame because of her fame. She said:  “I feel so bad. That an element of their lives is public, that makes it much more commented on than anyone else’s life.”

An heir for Pad-Stein

The seafood enthusiast had a willing successor to his Padstow empire, his Cornish businesses affectionately known as PadStein.

His middle son Jack has taken to cooking like a fish in water, having been introduced to washing pots in the family’s restaurant when he was 12 years old.

Jack said: “It was cheaper to wash pots than hire a childminder.”

But Rick, 74, actually tried to put his son off a career in catering. 

Jack said: “When I asked Dad if I should work in the restaurant, he told me no. I didn’t listen to him.”

Jack, 39, gained a psychology degree and a Masters in Celtic History and was set on taking a job with an insurance firm until he realised how lucky he was to be able to live in Cornwall and work in its tourist industry. 

He is now chef director of the family firm. He has filmed several TV cooking shows and authored a recipe book, World on a Plate.

Tom Kerridge’s boy is just Acey

Tom’s little lad, Acey, might have only just started school but that hasn’t stopped him getting a head start in the kitchen. 

During lockdown, Tom – who runs the Michelin-starred pub The Hand and Flowers, in Marlow, Bucks. – has been getting Acey, four, to be his personal sous chef.

He told Hello!: “The little man is quite good at doing things like omelettes and chopping mushrooms.”

And like Rick Stein, Tom has already lined his son up for working in his restaurant. 

He said: “I’m massively going to encourage him to work in the restaurant, just to get that understanding that if you work, you get paid. 

“He’s going to be in a very fortunate position that there’s going to be a job for him, whether it’s washing up and whether he wants to do it or not!”

Zilli’s reality star

Aldo’s eldest daughter, Laura, 35, has also dabbled in reality TV.

She appeared in a Channel 4 show about London’s Notting Hill in 2010, called Seven Days. 

She also used to model for the Italian car firm, Alfa Romeo, and has filmed cooking shows with her famous dad. 

Laura married businessman Nick Gold, 48, in April 2018 but it was revealed last December that the pair are divorcing. Nick’s business has gone bust, with debts of more than £22 million. 

The pair, who share five-year-old son Zachary, wed in a spectacular beachside ceremony in Miami and enjoyed a glitzy reception where Boy George performed. 

Nick Gold is a former part-owner of risque London cabaret club, The Box, whose celeb fans include Kate Moss and Keira Knightley. 

Aldo, 65, is also dad to Rocco, 14, and Twiggy, 12.