Gordon and Tana Ramsay, who married in 1996, always wanted a large family, she said in an interview in 2008.
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Cayetana “Tana” Elizabeth Hutcheson was in her early 20s — and engaged to someone else — when she met Gordon Ramsay at a New Year’s Eve party in London, but she didn’t think much of him at first, she told The Guardian in 2008. However, they shared a mutual friend so bumped into each other again, and they started dating.
In 1996, when Gordon was 29 and Tana was 21, they got married in Chelsea, London.
After initially struggling to conceive and going through in-vitro fertilization, they welcomed their first child, Megan, in 1998. By 2001, their first four children had been born.
Speaking to The Herald in 2008, Tana said they were surprised by how quickly their family grew.
“We knew we wanted a large family,” she said, “but for it to happen that close together is amazing. When I discovered I was expecting [our fourth child] Tilly I remember thinking, ‘Oh my God, how am I going to manage?’ But you do.”
Tana, who initially trained as a teacher, is also accomplished in the kitchen, and she’s published several cookbooks, including “Tana’s Kitchen Secrets” and “Tana Ramsay’s Real Family Food.”