Jamie Oliver’s wife Jools has said that going undiagnosed for autism and ADHD left her ‘drained’ and ‘ruined 45 years’ of her life, as she always assumed it was ‘something else’
Jools Oliver, the wife of celebrity chef Jamie Oliver, has shared that she was diagnosed with autism and ADHD late in life, and that going undiagnosed “ruined 45 years” of her life.
Jools, 51, opened up about her diagnosis on the Lessons From Our Mothers podcast. The parenting blogger, who is mum to Poppy, Daisy, Petal, Buddy and River, shared that she was left “drained” after living with both neurodivergences but mistaking them for “something else”.
She explained that one of her children had been diagnosed with autism four years ago, and that this prompted her to get herself tested too. Jools said: “I’ve got the medication but I don’t want to take it because I’m scared – due to health anxiety – that something will happen. It’s an ongoing situation. But, I found out the children had autism. So, then I thought ‘my God, that sounds like me’. So I went for that and I’ve got that as well.”
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The blogger added that it was “great to know” what was going on in her brain but that she found it “overwhelming” too, confessing that she felt not knowing earlier had “ruined” a huge portion of her life.
“For me, I think it’s quite draining. I think it’s tiring. And I think it’s actually ruined, well I’m 51, so far 45 years of my life thinking it’s something else. It’s no superpower, it’s just drain and it’s really hard work.”
According to the National Autistic Society, many women are diagnosed with autism late in life. This is because autism in girls can often present differently to the stereotypical idea of what autism looks like, as girls are more likely to “mask” their autistic traits. As such, many are not diagnosed until they reach adulthood.
Last month, Jamie also opened up his home life with Jools. The chef admitted that he “would be much stricter” with his and wife’s five children – but has to hold back because “Jools is much nicer”.
After speaking about how his children make many requests for different meals at dinner, he told The i Paper: “I do have that and I don’t like it. I would be much stricter, but Jools is much nicer than me. I’m like: ‘I don’t really care if you’re hungry. If you’re hungry, you’ll eat, and we’ll all eat the same thing.’”
He acquiesced on making separate meals for two of his daughters who are gluten intolerant. “It’s lovely to cook one thing and everyone tucks into it, but I’ve got two gluten-intolerant girls, so it’s a pain if you want to do one pasta dish for everyone,” he said.
“And we’re a busy family, and not everyone comes home at the same time, because they finish school at different times, they’ve got after-school clubs or sports, so it’s about having dishes you can stagger – something that can hang around and keep warm to serve later is good. I’ll do the same thing in different pans and add chilli to one, so they can choose whether or not to have it.”
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