Jools Oliver, the wife of celebrity chef Jamie Oliver, has revealed that waiting decades for an autism and ADHD diagnosis "ruined 45 years" of her life. The 51-year-old parenting blogger and mother of five opened up about her experience on the Lessons From Our Mothers podcast, saying she was left "drained" after living with both neurodivergences while mistaking them for "something else."
Diagnosis prompted by her children
Jools explained that one of her children was diagnosed with autism four years ago, which prompted her to seek testing for herself. She 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."
She added that it was "great to know" what was going on in her brain, but she also found it "overwhelming," confessing that not knowing earlier had "ruined" a huge portion of her life.
'It's no superpower'
Speaking about the impact of the late diagnosis, Jools said: "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."
The National Autistic Society says many women are diagnosed with autism late in life. This is because autism often presents differently in girls compared to the stereotypical idea of what autism looks like, as girls are more likely to "mask" their autistic traits. As a result, many are not diagnosed until they reach adulthood.
Jamie Oliver on family life
Last month, Jamie Oliver also spoke about his home life with Jools. The chef admitted he "would be much stricter" with their five children but has to hold back because "Jools is much nicer."
He told the i Paper that his children make many requests for different meals at dinner, saying: "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 backed down 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."
