Celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay’s daughter HollyAnna Ramsay is opening up about her struggles as a sexual assault survivor in her new mental health podcast “21 & Over.”
The 21-year-old is co-hosting the podcast with psychotherapist Talitha Fosh. It revolves around her mental health journey – about facing her trauma, and leaving university to receive treatment in hospital for three months.
Ramsay was sexually assaulted twice when she was 18. She left college after her first year and spent three months in a psychiatric hospital afterward and was diagnosed with PTSD.
“I was diagnosed with PTSD, anxiety, and depression, and since then I have been in therapy up to three times a week,” she said. “I now have these diagnoses that I carry with me. It’s confusing, and I’m trying to channel that and take control of my narrative and use that to make something good.”
It took a year before she was ready to tell anyone in her life about the sexual assaults and get help, she said.
“I just buried it in a box in the back of my mind and tried to get on with everything as best as I could,” she said. “My family has been an amazing support. It’s brought me closer to them in many ways.”
Ramsay said that she hopes that by speaking out she can help other people.
“Now I’m ready to speak more about my mental health journey and just show the real me, rather than what I think people would like to see,” she said.