TV chef James Martin revealed his dad ‘would never give me a hug’ as he shared details of a brutal note his dad left him before the pair reportedly ‘reconciled’ after a long estrangement
Celebrity chef James Martin has made a painful admission about his dad and left him a brutal note before the paiur reportedly ‘reconciled’.
The 53-year-old is one of the UK’s most renowned chefs. He has previously spoken candidly about his sometimes difficult relationship with his dad.
He told how his father struggled to show affection, encapsulated by his anecdote about leaving the family home in Yorkshire to start work in London at the age of just 16. It comes after James said he refuses to visit a popular high street bakery chain despite his partner’s ‘obsession’.
Speaking to the Routes podcast, James said: “I was 16, met at the station, my mum and dad dropped me off with my sister.
“Finished school on the Friday, started work in London on the Monday, Sunday night I got put on the train at York. Shook my dad’s hand because he would never give me a hug. There was a rolled up note in there and I thought it was a cheque, no, it was £20, I can’t tell you what he actually put on the note but it was the F word, I’ll see you in two years. That’s what it was.”
James promptly spent half of the £20 getting a taxi from the station in London to the restaurant that had given him a job. But the chef who had employed him initially had no clue who he was.
It comes after it was reported the celebrity chef has reconciled his relationship with his father after years of bitter estrangement.
James cut off contact with his father Ian following a rift sparked by explosive claims about his stepmother in his autobiography. He later said: “I’ve accepted he will never be a part of my life.”
But now with James set to tie the knot with partner Kim Johnson, it seems like there has been a family reconciliation.
Speaking to the Daily Mail, Ian described his son ‘as good as ever’ before adding: “There’s no estrangement.”
A family friend added: “It’s been a long road, but James’s stance has softened with time. The pair of them have slowly rebuilt bridges over the past couple of years. Now they’re able to look forward rather than dwell on the past.”
The relationship fell apart after James’s 2008 autobiography Driven, which included several scathing passages about his then-stepmother, Sarah Briggs, He described her as ‘the ugliest woman I have ever met and claimed she burned his childhood toys.
Ms Briggs sued for libel, prompting the book to be pulped and re-edited.
James once described the pair as being too stubborn to ever bury the hatchet, adding that ‘the only good thing’ top come out of the legal action ‘was the realisation I would never speak to my father again’.
In contrast to his relationship with his dad, James has always remained close to his mum Sue, who is his first port of call when he needs advice.
It comes as James told the story about how his dad would drop him off at a vineyard for six weeks during the school summer holidays when he would go to France to import wine back to the UK.
He told the Routes podcast: “Then obviously school holidays, my mum had two kids and the farm and everything else, wanted to get rid of one of us and the easiest option was: ‘You’re going with your dad,’ me, and I would go off to France.
“My mum would be thinking I would be travelling around France with my dad, no, my dad would drop me off at a vineyard and leave me there for five or six weeks.”
James Martin’s Saturday Morning airs today (February 14) from 9.30am to 12pm on ITV. Guests include former Wet Wet Wet star Marti Pellow.
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