Olympic gold medal swimmer Adam Peaty’s sad fallout with his mum feels worlds away from the days she’d wake up at 4am to take him to training – so where did it all go wrong?
On the brink of his celebrity marriage next month, Adam Peaty is caught up in a very public battle with his family, reportedly banning his mother from the nuptials.
The champion swimmer finally broke his silence this week on the “hurtful” family feud. He insisted on Instagram that there are “two sides to every story” and that he and his fiancée “will get through” these “challenging times”.
Adam, 30, is set to wed Holly Ramsay, daughter of Michelin starred chef Gordon, in Bath Abbey on December 27. But the event could be marred by a row that erupted when bride-to-be Holly didn’t invite her future mother-in-law to her hen-do, attended by close family and celebrity pals like Victoria Beckham.
Adam’s aunt, Louise Williams, criticised Ramsay for not inviting Caroline, calling the decision “divisive and hurtful”, for which Caroline publicly thanked her. Tensions continued to simmer with claims Caroline offended the bride-to-be by wanting to wear cream on the wedding day.
Adam’s brother, James Peaty, was also arrested and bailed over allegations he sent threats to Adam on his stag do.
Caroline then gave an explosive interview in which she said that the Ramsay family is “pulling him away from her”, stating that she knows “it’s the end” of her relationship with her son but that she doesn’t “wish any ill”.
In a direct message to Adam, she said: “I know it’s the end. But please, the message I want Adam to hear is no matter what happens in the future, please know I love you, your dad loves you, you can come home and talk to me at any point.”
A source close to the Peaty clan has suggested that the tension is due to the difference in their working-class background and the more affluent lifestyle of the Ramsay family. The glitzy world of showbiz is a world away from Adam’s humbler upbringing in Uttoxeter, Staffordshire as one of four “growing up on the poverty line”.
To help him achieve his dreams, Caroline would wake up at 4 am to drive Adam the 40 minutes from their home to the pool in Derby. She would wait two hours for his morning session to finish, drive him home, have a quick breakfast, and then go to her full-time job as a nursery manager from 8 am to 5 pm.
After work, she would then drive him back to the pool for evening training sessions, often not getting home until 8 pm or 10 pm.
Adam has admitted to being a “selfish athlete” with “a bit of a split personality” and a side that’s “unpleasant to be around”, which he attributes to his ruthless ambition within his sport.
He is also open about the resentment he felt growing up. “That relationship with suffering has driven me since I was a kid,” he told The Guardian. “I am working class – but millions of people in this country are also working class. They live paycheque to paycheque and can’t have luxury things.”
Adam and Holly met in 2021 on the set of Strictly Come Dancing, as the swimmer was a contestant alongside Ramsay’s younger sister, Tilly. The pair began dating in 2023 and announced their engagement in September 2024.
It is thought that only Adam’s sister Bethany has been invited from the Peaty family to attend their wedding.
In his statement this week about the feud, the sportsman expressed his dismay at how things have unfolded. “It has been deeply hurtful and upsetting to read, especially given the false basis upon which we have been targeted,” he said.
“What makes it worse is that it has been encouraged by members of my family.”
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