In 2016, Gordon Ramsay and his wife, Tana Ramsay, experienced something no two parents should ever experience – a pregnancy loss. Already parents to four children at the time, the Ramsays were excited about growing their brood for the first time in 15 years, but a miscarriage ruined those plans.
“We had a devastating weekend as Tana has sadly miscarried our son at five months,” Gordon and Tana Ramsay wrote in a heartbreaking and devastating Facebook post on June 13, 2016. “We’re together healing as a family, but we want to thank everyone again for all your amazing support and well wishes.
They later revealed that they named their unborn son Rocky and ultimately decided to try again – they welcomed their fifth child, Oscar James, on April 4, 2019. It was the couple’s first child in 18 years and he joined his four older siblings – Megan, 25, twins Jack Scott and Holly Anna, 23, and Matilda ‘Tilly,’ 21.
In an exclusive interview featured in this week’s issue of PEOPLE magazine, Gordon Ramsay opened up about his unborn son, Rocky, and how the pregnancy loss brought him, his wife, and his entire family closer together. It’s not his (or his wife’s) first time opening up about the loss, but it’s certainly the latest.
“There’s no book that guides you through that loss, and so losing Rocky was really tough. Watching the trauma unfold, it’s this life-changing moment,” Gordon said in the interview, which will hit the newsstands on Friday (Sept. 22). Nonetheless, it’s something his family has taken ownership of through the years.
Not only did they name their Cornwall (a county in South West England) home after their unborn son, but Gordon revealed that each of his family members (he, his wife, and their children) wears a piece of jewelry with Rocky’s name on it. It’s just two of the ways they honor what never was on a daily basis.
“We wouldn’t have had Oscar had we not lost Rocky. There was no substitute — far from it — but it brought us a bond that you’d never experience in a normal situation,” Gordon continued. Their son, Oscar, turned four years old in April and is already starting to bear a close resemblance to his father.
Gordon Ramsay Praises His Wife for Her Resiliency
As he has always done in the past, Gordon Ramsay was quick to praise his wife for her resiliency after learning of the pregnancy loss in 2016. He described how their children ‘get a lot of strength’ from her and how that strength that she has instilled in them has brought their family together in the toughest of times.
“That’s the power of Tana. Just watching the way that she dealt with it — and opened up with other friends and women in close proximity that could give advice — she was incredible straight after that,” he said of his wife. They first met in the 1990s, started dating a few years later, and tied the knot in 1996.
On June 11, Tana Ramsay took to her Instagram to share a ‘happy photo’ of her, her husband, and their then-four children – she was just under 20 weeks pregnant with Rocky at the time and were celebrating Megan’s 18th birthday (she’s 25 years old now). It was a few days before learning of the pregnancy loss.
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“A few days later I would be holding our little boy Rocky – born with a strong heartbeat, but too little to survive. Although it’s 7 years today, it still feels like yesterday. We all miss you everyday. We love you Rocky, forever in our hearts. I couldn’t do this without my family, you are all everything to me,” she wrote.
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