Jamie and Jools Oliver are proud parents to their five children, but speaking to Good Housekeeping UK for their Christmas issue, the pair opened up about the difficulties they've faced in parenting their teenage children. Jamie's wife Jools, whom he married in 2000 before renewing their vows in both 2023 and 2024, confessed that she was having a difficult time with their youngest daughter, Petal Blossom, 16. She told the publication: "My 16-year-old isn't particularly warm to me at the moment and it's sort of heartbreaking. But I've done it twice over and I know not to be silly and to try to let it go. It's hard when you're living it, and 10 years is quite a long time to wait for them to come back to you, but they do."
Jools shared that the experience felt "brutal" while Jamie added that his wife "understandably takes it personally, and it's not that I'm seeing it from a great distance, but I've learnt to step back when I can". The duo are parents to Poppy Honey, 23, Daisy Boo, 22, Petal Blossom, 16, Buddy Bear, 14, and River Rocket, nine.
Buddy's rebellion
It's not just Petal who has been rebelling, as Jamie spoke about their eldest son, Buddy Bear, 14, and his cookery career. Despite being just a teenager, Buddy has presented his own show on CBBC, Cooking Buddies, which sees him sharing recipe tips with other teens and young people while also learning new skills from them, and released his own cookbook, Let's Cook. However, speaking to Good Housekeeping for their Christmas issue, Jamie revealed that his son has fought against the idea of becoming a chef.
"He's at an age where [sometimes it feels like] he's almost fighting it because he thinks it's imposed by me," Jamie explained to the publication, before revealing that there might be a grain of truth to that thought. The star, who began his career as a pastry chef at the Neal Street restaurant, confessed that he was enthused by the idea of "having a partner in crime".
Buddy has previously spoken about Jamie being involved in his blossoming career, with the youngster telling The Daily Telegraph that he found it "a bit annoying" when his father joined him on-screen in an episode, before adding that the experience was overall "nice and fun".
Jamie and Jools, who first became parents in 2002, also opened up about some of their Christmas traditions, explaining that frequently having young children around the house meant they were used to waking up early during the holiday season. "We still get woken about 5am," Jools joked. "And it's really unpopular but we normally have lunch by 1pm. I think we've been having babies for so long that we're used to being up super early."
The full interview is in Good Housekeeping's Christmas edition, on sale from 23 October.
Jamie speaks to HELLO!
Speaking to HELLO! in October for his Little Food Library book series, Jamie shared his beliefs that children want to eat healthy food. "Kids aren't born wanting to eat chicken nuggets and chips. It's called marketing," he told us, explaining how his new books are a crucial tool to "market, celebrate and educate kids about different ingredients, about what things go together, and how to make something that's going to be delicious to eat."
As for how he tries to get his own kids to get engaged in cooking, he said: "I'll cook whatever gets them excited about helping out in the kitchen. Recently, that's been making a batch of bread dough that I'll keep in the fridge, ready to take in whichever way takes our fancy – pizza, garlic bread, chocolate loaf… I'll take the kids' lead on that."