‘I wish I had breasts and some milk!’ Jamie Oliver says he’d love to help wife Jools out more with baby River Rocket
The celebrity chef reckons men can sometimes feel a bit useless for the first six months of a new baby's life
When TV Magazine catches up with our food columnist Jamie Oliver, it’s only a few weeks since his wife Jools gave birth to their fifth child, River Rocket.
We’re expecting him to look exhausted, possibly with some baby dribble down his shirt. But he’s remarkably fresh-faced.
“I’m quite used to compromised sleep,” grins the chef, 41. “I think men feel a bit useless
the first six months – I wish I had breasts and some milk but I’m a bloody let down. Jools expressed a bottle so I did the 1.30am feed.
“When you’ve had five children, there’s experience – but you forget 75 per cent of
it. As soon as that baby comes out, you’re like: ‘Oh s**t, what happens?’ My missus is so hands-on, but even when it was time for the first bath she was a bit frightened. It’s amazing to be back at the beginning again, though.”
River joins the brood of Poppy, 14, Daisy, 13, Petal, seven, and five-year-old Buddy. And Jamie reveals he hadn’t planned on a fifth.
“I was kind of done at four,” he admits. “But Jools had plans. She’s got to put up with me, so when she wanted the fifth then crack on, let’s do it. And now it does feel weirdly right.”
However, don’t go getting ideas that there’ll be a sixth arrival any time soon.
“I think I’m going to have to get the snip,” he laughs. “Jools says I’m not allowed to, but I might get it done secretly. Not really – but I’ve got to think of something!
“When Poppy found out she just cried, she was so happy. I was more worried about them being disgusted that that could happen under their roof! There’s so many of us now, it’s like being on safari at our house.”
And while Jamie credits Jools with choosing River’s name, there was one thing he took upon himself – finding out the baby’s sex.
“By law, only the woman can find out,” he explains. “So I asked the doctor to put it in a sealed envelope. Jules was fine with that, then I got the steamer out…
“On the day [then-Chancellor] George Osborne announced the sugary drinks tax, I was at a big meeting and I looked [at the letter] under the table. I started to cry – everyone thought it was because of the tax! They were going: ‘Wow, you are happy.’”
It’s a wonder Jamie has found the time for a new eight-part TV series. Jamie’s Family Super Foods concentrates on healthy meals and takes inspiration from around the world. And it ties in with another project of his – the master’s degree in Food Nutrition he’s studying for.
“We’ve spent the last two years travelling to places where people live the longest, most productive lives,” he says. “I realised the last 11 years for me has been about anthropology. We’re all the same, we’re not born to only eat nuggets, it’s just what we normalise.
“In Korea, their favourite thing is a bean-based spongey dessert that’s really good for you. They have one of the planet’s healthiest diets and the lowest obesity in the world.”
And with his school dinners campaign still ongoing, not to mention his weekly column for this magazine, the Jamie Oliver juggernaut shows no signs of slowing down. Has he sussed the art of being a busy working dad? He laughs: “I don’t think you ever crack it.”