Adam Ramsay-Peaty has said a reconciliation with his family is possible only if he feels they have “improved as people”, after what he called a “real rollercoaster of a week” at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.
The swimmer and Strictly Come Dancing star, who is married to Holly Ramsay, daughter of TV chef Gordon Ramsay, picked up two bronzes and a silver at the Games. After the 100m breaststroke final, he broke down in tears and told critics, “you can’t hurt me”, insisting they needed to “do better.”
Forgiveness takes time
In an interview with the Guardian published on 1 August, Adam, 31, spoke about the personal problems between him and his family, including mother Caroline and father Mark, in the run-up to his December 2025 wedding to Holly, 26. Asked whether there could be a reconciliation, he said: “For me, as a Christian, there has to be forgiveness. It doesn’t mean you have to forget, but forgiveness takes time. I’m not saying that it won’t get better but it has to come from a place where I feel like they’ve improved as people, in a sense, and opened that communication up. I haven’t told one thing to the media. I haven’t done one story over the last eight months and more.”
Asked whether the public rift played out in the media had affected him, Adam said: “I wouldn’t say on me because I’ve got a thick skin. But I care about my wife, I care about my son. I care about the relationships that people think I have with my son, and my own family, but that’s my private life.”
Emotional bronze
Adam spoke out after finishing third in the 100m breaststroke final in Glasgow, saying he was disappointed. “It’s hard because I know how hard I work. I know the s**t I’ve been through, which is no fault of my own, but it does take its toll. I’m not crying because it’s bronze instead of gold. I’m crying because I know I am better than that. I feel like I couldn’t have put any more in and that’s where it hurts, because I’m like, ‘What’s the point of all the metres every day, what’s the point of being exhausted all the time?’ “What’s the point of having to say no to family events so you can go to training’? It has to mean something and for me it has to be human excellence and that is not excellence for me. So that’s the emotion that is unfortunately coming out. [M wife Holly] is always going to be proud of me and I think as a father, it doesn’t matter if you come home with a gold, as long as you come home with a teddy.”
Mother’s response
Adam’s mum Caroline posted afterwards: “I forgive people but that doesn’t mean I accept their behaviour or trust them. I forgive them for me, so I can let go and move on with my life.”
The fall-out with his parents is reported to have begun in the run-up to Adam and Holly’s wedding in December 2025, reportedly because Caroline shared her upset at not being invited to Holly’s hen party in the Cotswolds. Victoria Beckham was invited to the celebrations at Soho Farmhouse, while Caroline was said to have been asked to look after Adam’s son from a previous relationship at home instead. Caroline was reportedly told not to come to the wedding at Bath Cathedral, while Adam’s father was told he could attend only if he stood at the back of the church; he did not take up the offer. Only Adam’s sister Bethany attended from his side of the family.
Building bridges
Caroline previously admitted to speaking to a newspaper about her son in the early stages of the fall-out, but says she has not talked about him publicly since and hinted she is ready to build bridges. She said: “He’s our son who we love, whom we supported to reach his aspirations. Our love, our time, our sacrifices were given freely with no expectation of financial reward just genuinely given with the love as any mother and father would do for their child.”
