Jamie Oliver has made a household name for himself as a chef and advocate for healthy eating, but before he was famous, he had a very different lifestyle – as a rock star! His wife Jools Oliver made the surprising revelation earlier in the week while appearing on Made by Mammas podcast. When asked about the first time she met her now-husband by hosts Zoe Hardman and Georgia Dayton, the Little Bird designer said: "When I first met him he was a drummer and that's what got me, rock star image you know! He was 17 or 18 and in a band, he invited me to a gig so I went along to some sweaty disgusting place and I went along to watch, and then we all got on the bus home and then that was it."
Jamie Oliver was a rock star before he was famous!
Jools continued: "He was quite popular so I thought 'I want a piece of that', and he was very cool and the man about town. When I was 18 he asked me out on a date and then we had a courtship for a year and we have never separated since, never broken up."
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Jamie – whose parents Sally and Terry own a pub – then went on to path out a successful career with his cooking skills, and shot to fame in 1997 after making his TV debut in the documentary Christmas at the River Café. Last month, Jamie made a surprising confession about his celebrity status, admitting to The Guardian that he doesn’t actually like being famous. "Every day I wish I wasn’t famous," he said. The star then went on to add that he recognises his fortunate position, and that he enjoys working with "nice people" as "having a laugh is a pretty good job to have".
Jamie and Jools Oliver met as teenagers and have gone on to welcome five children
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Jamie and Jools have been married since June 2000, and have gone on to welcome five children between the ages of 16 and one. Last year, Jools gave an insight into her and Jamie’s long-lasting romance when she took to Instagram to share a photo of a pile of love letters Jamie had written when they were teenagers. Jools wrote: "When I was 17 I worked in Tokyo for 3 months and every single day Jamie sent me a letter or a fax without fail! These are only half of them. I started reading them and it brought back just the best and happiest memories xxx missing u @jamieoliver."