London - A £2-million (about R24-million) truce was called on Wednesday in the bitter feud ripping through Gordon Ramsay’s family and business empire.
The celebrity chef had accused his father-in-law Chris Hutcheson of hacking into private emails and plundering £1.4-million from his restaurant empire to finance his serial womanising.
Hutcheson, who denied the claims, branded Ramsay a fame-obsessed “monster” and sued him for unfair dismissal and unpaid wages.
Ramsay’s wife Tana sided with her husband and severed ties with her parents after discovering her philandering father had kept a second family secret from her for 30 years.
But the very public spat is now at an end after Ramsay and Hutcheson, his former business partner, friend and close confidant, reached a £2million settlement, although the Kitchen Nightmares star has also run up a huge legal bill. Ramsay’s publicist, Freud Communications, said: “Gordon Ramsay and Gordon Ramsay Holdings have reached a settlement with Chris Hutcheson and other members of the Hutcheson family.
“The terms of the settlement are confidential but we can confirm that Chris Hutcheson is no longer a director or shareholder of Gordon Ramsay Holdings and all civil litigation and employment tribunal claims brought by each of the two parties and other family members have been withdrawn.”
Hutcheson is believed to have received about £2-million, which includes payment for a 30 percent share in Gordon Ramsay Holdings.
A source close to Ramsay, 44, said: “Gordon has spent a fortune to get to this point - not just on lawyers but accountants and computer experts. He wanted to sever every tie with his father-in-law, but of course it’s meant Tana has had to pay a very heavy price.
“She doesn’t expect to have any further contact with her father - nor even her mother because she’s stood by him - but she feels as betrayed by him as Gordon does.
“Tana always puts their own family first and that’s why she believes Gordon’s done the right thing. She won’t talk about it but there were things which her father did that disgust her.”
The slanging match between Ramsay and Hutcheson began 16 months ago when the TV cook sacked his father-in-law as chief executive of Gordon Ramsay Holdings.
Hutcheson, 63, branded Ramsay a celebrity-obsessed “monster” and accused him of turning Tana against him. Ramsay, in an explosive public letter, revealed that he had employed private detectives to investigate Hutcheson and savaged the “dictator” father-in-law and “his very complex life”.
It was not until May last year that the astonishing story behind Ramsay’s decision to sack his business partner emerged when the High Court lifted a gagging order Hutcheson had taken out to hush up his double life.
Tana Ramsay was among the last in her family to learn that for more than three decades Hutcheson had had a second, secret family after fathering two children by his mistress Frances Collins.
She is one of a string of women with whom Hutcheson allegedly betrayed his wife Greta, by whom he has four children, including Tana. Last summer Ramsay lodged a writ at the High Court suing Tana’s father, mother, sister, brother and brother’s wife.
The chef alleged that Hutcheson hacked into his personal and company files, wrongly withdrew £1.42-million from the company to fund his double life and paid a separate mistress £5,000 a month.
Ramsay also claimed that Hutcheson put his wife and son on the payroll and wrote five-figure cheques to himself.
In December Ramsay was awarded £250,000 costs after a judge ruled that Hutcheson, Tana’s sister Orlanda Butland and her brother Adam were liable for breach of confidence after hacking into personal emails and company computers. - Daily Mail