jamie oliver© Photo: Getty Images

Jamie Oliver tells moving story of coping with learning difficulties – watch

The celebrity chef has ADHD and dyslexia

Senior Health & Fitness Writer
October 6, 2021

Jamie Oliver was diagnosed with ADHD (attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder) and dyslexia as a child. He has since advocated for a healthy diet to help ease the symptoms (for ADHD, the NHS cites these as fidgeting, an inability to still and concentrate, while for dyslexia, these include reading slowly or making errors when reading and writing), and often speaks out about his own experience.

Dyslexia and ADHD often overlap (according to Web MB, three in 10 people with dyslexia also have ADHD), and in a past video shared by charities Made by Dyslexia and the ADHD Foundation, Jamie opened up about the challenges he faced in education as a result of suffering with both disorders. To mark ADHD Awareness Month, here's exactly what he said.

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WATCH: Jamie Oliver speaks candidly about experience with dyslexia

"When I was at school, dyslexia was never really, you were either almost blind or not dyslexic. I was just put in special needs, you know like a thick kid.

"That’s why I love the debate about education. Who said education is what we say it is? Like a couple of dudes from 500 years ago sort of set up the structure of it, English, maths, science. Ok, so if you're not good at black and white and traditional academia you're thick, therefore you have no value, so for me personally I've always been passionate since leaving school about different types of intelligence and everyone has the ability to be brilliant.

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"School really should be about facilitating kids to find their inner genius and inner confidence."

Back in 2009, Jamie also hit back at a fan who criticised him for his spelling on Twitter.

Jamie, 33 at the time, had written: "anouther true story a amssive amount of uk farmers use human waist as fertiliser on there land! do any other countrys do this? Is this normal"

In response, a follower accused him of setting a bad example to young fans.

He wrote: "Not being funny fella but 4 spelling mistakes? You're influencing a generation of kids, you owe it to them to be correct. Agree?"

The chef replied: "Get lost you idiot im dislexic and i cant spell so stick that in your pipe! its better than being smug."

Jamie left school with no qualifications but went on to secure a place at Westminster Catering College, where he nurtured his passion for healthy children's cooking.

Justin Bieber, Simone Biles, Solange Knowles, Richard Branson and Emma Watson are also all believed to have ADHD.

Find out more about ADHD via the ADHD Foundation charity.

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