Quick Answer: Ronnie Ramsay is Gordon Ramsay’s younger brother. Born in 1968 in Johnstone, Scotland, he’s 15 months younger than the chef and has been addicted to heroin for about four decades. He was jailed in Bali in 2007 and now busks in Birmingham.
- Ronald “Ronnie” Ramsay is the third of four kids, with sisters Yvonne and Diana.
- The brothers grew up on 15 council estates, sharing one small bedroom.
- Gordon says his brother has been an addict for four decades.
- Ronnie got 10 months in a Bali prison in 2007 for carrying 100 mg of heroin.
- He’s 58, thought to be in a council flat in Birmingham, busking for cash.
- He doesn’t appear in the Netflix series Being Gordon Ramsay.
Who is Ronnie Ramsay?
Ronnie was born in 1968 to Helen Cosgrove and Gordon James Ramsay Sr. in Johnstone, Renfrewshire. The third of four kids. Two sisters, Yvonne and Diana. And a big brother, 15 months older, who’d become one of the world’s most famous chefs. Same house, same bedroom, same bunk beds.
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Childhood That Shaped Both of Them
Their dad drifted between jobs and the family kept moving. Gordon has called him a “violent alcoholic” and says he had a “torrid relationship” with him, dreading the sight of a Bacardi bottle going down. Their mum worked three jobs to support the family.
They left Scotland around 1975, when Gordon was nine, swapping a rough Renfrewshire estate for Stratford-upon-Avon. Fifteen council estates followed. Gordon still remembers holes in his second-hand trousers and queuing for free school meal tokens.
On the Big Fish podcast in 2023, he called it “incredibly disruptive”: new school, new football club, new mates, sometimes twice a year. Ronnie lived all of it too.
How the Brothers Drifted Apart
Then their parents split, and the boys went opposite ways. Gordon threw himself into football, then into cooking. Ronnie had nothing to focus on.
In his book Humble Pie, Gordon put it plainly: “Ronnie was the blue-eyed boy. When my parents split up, he went off the rails. I went the other way.”
Ronnie reportedly had a short stint in the British military, cut short by addiction. Drugs in his late teens and early twenties turned into full addiction, then a spiral that Gordon says began when their dad dropped the blue-eyed boy.
2007 Arrest in Bali
By 2007 Ronnie was living in Indonesia. That February, police acting on a tip-off swooped on him in a supermarket car park in Kuta, Bali, and said he was carrying 100 mg of heroin hidden in a cigarette packet.
He went on trial in Denpasar, aged 39, facing up to 10 years. Prosecutor Agung Kusumayasa Ciputra told the court he was in “illegal possession of class-one narcotics”. Ronnie admitted it. Beforehand, he covered his face with a newspaper and spat at photographers. “Go,” he shouted. “Leave me alone.”
His lawyer, Erwin Siregar, argued the drugs weren’t for sale, then made a plea that says everything: “Please ask his brother Gordon to contact him. He needs his help.”
The court gave him 10 months and a five million rupiah fine, about £381, with six months already served, inside Denpasar prison, notorious for cramped cells and foul sanitation. The BBC reported the case, which ran worldwide and, Gordon says, tore the family apart.
What Gordon says in ‘Being Gordon Ramsay’
Being Gordon Ramsay landed on Netflix on 18 February 2026. The six episodes follow the 59-year-old as he opens five dining concepts inside 22 Bishopsgate, a £20 million punt. Episode two is where the shouting stops.
Hello reports that Gordon said, “I have a brother who’s a heroin addict. We shared a bunk bed together. He’s 15 months younger than me, and he’s been an addict for the last four decades. I’ve gone to hell and back with him, and so I have a guilt complex. That could have been me, it could have been switched.”
He adds, “I’ve been dealt the dysfunctional card.” He told LADbible he was “too honest” to sanitise it, and on the High Performance podcast called Ronnie’s situation a daily reminder to graft.
Years of Trying to Help
Gordon and Tana, married nearly 30 years, genuinely tried, even taking Ronnie in. Tana told MailOnline: “So many times we tried to fix him, then you actually begin to understand the enormity of the issue and that it’s never going to change until it comes from him. He’s not moved on at all.”
Gordon said much the same to Waitrose Food Illustrated in the early 2000s: “It is hard dealing with Ronnie. He has a major responsibility. It is like having an 18-year-old to look after.” He also said his mum, then 60, shouldn’t still be putting up with it.
In 2007 he admitted the limit: “You want to help, but when it’s heroin, it’s different. You can’t do it for them. You just can’t.” Seeing it up close is partly why he made the 2017 documentary Gordon on Cocaine.
Where is Ronnie Ramsay Now?
Ronnie’s 58 and believed to be in a council flat in Birmingham, busking, and two pit bulls for company. He stays away from cameras, which is why he isn’t in the series. Gordon and Tana’s children, Megan and Jack, aren’t in it either because of their jobs in the police and the Marines.
In 2025, Ronnie rang asking if he could play music at his niece Holly’s December wedding to Olympic swimmer Adam Peaty. Gordon said no.
“It was tough. It still pains me,” he told the Mirror. “I put down the phone and I said to Tana, ‘F**king hell, here we are in the house we sleep in and there’s my little brother still with two pit bulls in a council flat in Birmingham, busking.”
Gordon, worth an estimated £180 million, told the Times of India he carries that gap daily. Cosmopolitan said that Ronnie is a mess whom the chef can’t fix. His youngest two, six and two, haven’t been told anything.
Frequently Asked Questions
How old is Ronnie Ramsay?
Ans: He is 58 years old. He was born in 1968, so he is 15 months younger than Gordon.
Is Ronnie Ramsay in the Netflix documentary?
Ans: No. Gordon talks about him in episode two, but Ronnie was never filmed.
Why was Ronnie Ramsay in prison?
Ans: Police caught him with 100 mg of heroin in Bali in February 2007. A Denpasar court jailed him for 10 months and fined him £381.
Do Gordon and Ronnie Ramsay still talk?
Ans: Barely. They seem largely estranged, though Ronnie rang in 2025 about playing at Holly’s wedding.
Where does Ronnie Ramsay live?
Ans: In a council flat in Birmingham, busking and keeping two pit bulls.
How many siblings does Gordon Ramsay have?
Ans: Three. Ronnie, plus sisters Yvonne and Diana, all born in Scotland.
Sources & References
- Cosmopolitan – Ronnie is a mess whom Gordon can’t fix.
- Mirror – “It was tough. It still pains me.”
- Times of India – Gordon Ramsay’s net worth is about £180 million.
