The learning disability Holly Willoughby shares with Jamie Oliver as celebrity chef launches new documentary - three years after she called it a 'feather in my cap'

With a string of popular restaurants, a seemingly endless collection of cookbooks and an affable TV persona, he's established himself as one of the world's wealthiest celebrity chefs.

But Jamie Oliver admits he needed to overcome numerous obstacles while working his way to the top after being diagnosed with dyslexia, a condition fellow sufferer Holly Willoughby once called a 'feather in her cap.' 

Oliver, 49, discovered he had dyslexia, which causes issues with reading, writing and spelling, as a child, and has since discussed his subsequent struggles with the learning disability in a new Channel 4 documentary.

Throughout the hour-long programme, the chef will explore dyslexia and its impact on 1.3 million children across the United Kingdom. 

He said: 'It's no secret I struggled at school — but I was one of the lucky ones. I knew I wanted to be a chef so had somewhere to go, catering school, where I could thrive.

'The kitchen saved me.'

Oliver joins a host of high profile celebrities in managing successful careers while living with the condition, among them former This Morning presenter Willoughby. 

Discussing the condition on the ITV daytime show in 2022, the presenter, 43, said she did not view it as a 'disability', adding: 'I think it makes me who I am.'

Talking to entrepreneur, Sir Richard Branson, who is also dyslexic, she said: 'I don’t see it as a disability at all, I see it as a real feather in my cap. 

'I’m very proud of being dyslexic, I think it makes me who I am. I think half of the things I think that I’m actually quite good at in life are because I’m dyslexic.'

While Holly is proud to say she's dyslexic, she admitted to feeling less positive about the condition when she was younger. 

'For me, because I'm not very good at spelling, for years I felt shameful about that', she told This Morning viewers in 2021. 

'Dyslexia is such a broad spectrum, people have so many different forms of it. Yes, I'm dyslexic also and I had to find my own tool kit and for me it was finding somebody who understood this who could teach me how to access those tools because at school it wasn't really that well known then.

'I wouldn't write down in front of people because I didn't want them to see, but it doesn't bother me now that I can't spell.'

The media personality added that she was able to cope with the condition when she received advice in her late teens.

Willoughby also revealed that she no longer lets dyslexia have the same power over her that it did while she was in school.

She told Red magazine: 'I've struggled with dyslexia since I was young and it used to hold me back. 

'At school, reading out loud absolutely terrified me because I'd get all the words wrong and I was convinced everybody thought I was stupid.

'It still happens now – most of the mistakes I make on This Morning are because of it, but it doesn't do what it did to me back then because I don't let it have power. I now know that it's all about how you package it in your head.'

The star has previously revealed that she uses coloured scripts and advance checks of the autocue to help her present This Morning. 

Dyslexia is a learning difficulty that can cause problems with reading, writing and spelling. One in every ten people has the lifelong problem in the UK and the US.

As well as struggling with reading, writing and spelling, other signs of dyslexia are confusing the order of letters in words and finding difficulty in carrying out directions, planning and organising.

Famous sufferers include actor Orlando Bloom, businessman Richard Branson, TV musician Jessica Simpson and screen star Tom Cruise.

People with dyslexia often have good skills in other areas, such as problem solving and creative thinking.

Oliver aims to challenge the Government to reform the 'archaic' education system, which he believes fails to engage children with dyslexia. 

His upcoming documentary, set to air later this year, explores how schools can celebrate diverse ways of thinking and redefine success in today's world.

He said: 'I just want to look 13-year-old kids, who are struggling with reading, in the eye and say to them, 'You are NOT worthless.'

Tim Hancock, commissioning editor at Channel 4, said: 'There's no more effective campaigner than Jamie, and now he's turning his expertise to a subject close to his heart.

'I'm thrilled Channel 4 is following him back on the campaign trail.'